Differences Between Civil & Crimial Law

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Alex Richards

Law Assignment

The Differences Between Civil and Criminal Law

        The English Legal System has been developed over many years and has split into two distinct types of law. They are civil law and criminal law. Each type of law has an important part to play in establishing liability but there are many differences between them.

For a start, the purpose of civil law is to uphold the rights of individuals and to stop those rights being damaged. An example of this could be trespassing. The person trespassing on someone’s land isn’t actually causing them any harm, but is causing them grief and becoming a nuisance to them when they are an innocent person. criminal law not only protects the individuals within our society, but protects society as whole, and keeps order within communities. This includes crimes against people that will actually cause them harm such as murder, rape or grievous bodily harm. If a person breaks a criminal law, they will be arrested and taken into custody, where they will be able to talk to a solicitor who will try and assist them with things such as letting them know their rights, and aiding them during their police interview. If the case requires a court appearance, it will be brought upon the defendant by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) (which represents the state), and the person who they will be up against is the prosecutor. The case is cited as R v Smith. For a Civil matter, the person who is alleged to be liable will not be arrested and the police will not have anything to do with the case. However, they will have to go to court in order to try and defend themselves against the claimant, who may be looking for compensation as a form of repayment for the fact that the defendant has affected the claimant’s rights.

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The courts that each type of law deal with are also different. The courts that criminal cases get heard in will be the Magistrates Court and the Crown Court, with the Magistrates Court dealing with the lesser crimes such as breach of the peace, and the Crown Court dealing with cases such as rape and murder which are more serious. Magistrates deal with over 95% of all criminal cases. It would be impossible for qualified judges to hear so many cases so Magistrates who are unqualified hear them instead. The Crown Court deals with the more serious cases as ...

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