Why Do We Need Both Civil And Criminal Law?

Minh Pritchard

Christina Heath

217B

Why Do We Need Both Civil And Criminal Law?

In Civil Law this is where one person or company called a claimant takes action against another individual or company to sue them for compensation. The purpose of civil law is to uphold the rights of individuals and can be won on the basis of probability. Civil cases are decided by a judge and very rarely a jury in a county or high court.

In Criminal Law it is usually the state through the police and crown prosecution service called the prosecutor who take action against someone who has broken the rules of society e.g. murder. The purpose of criminal law is to uphold law and order and to protect society, the state have to win on the basis that the jury decides that the defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Criminal cases are decided by a Jury or magistrate and are held in a magistrate, crown or a high court.

Both types of law are needed because both types of law are very different. In a civil case you employ a solicitor to guide you and represent you in a small claims court. In criminal law you will have both a solicitor and a barrister where the solicitor will advise you and the barrister and then in court the barrister will represent you and defend you in court in front of a jury.

Some of examples of civil cases are:

a person who is hurt in a car accident sues the driver of the other car;
a worker ...

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Both types of law are needed because both types of law are very different. In a civil case you employ a solicitor to guide you and represent you in a small claims court. In criminal law you will have both a solicitor and a barrister where the solicitor will advise you and the barrister and then in court the barrister will represent you and defend you in court in front of a jury.

Some of examples of civil cases are:

a person who is hurt in a car accident sues the driver of the other car;
a worker sues his employer after the worker hurts his back at work and can never work again;
A homeowner who has hired a builder to build a new kitchen sues the builder when the kitchen is badly built and has to be fixed;
A family sues their doctor when the doctor has been giving her doses of a medicine she does not need and is not ill.

The most recent civil case in the news is where the American government are filing a £156billion lawsuit against tobacco companies for misleading people about the effects of smoking. People usually sue for an amount of money to make up for the injury or loss they have suffered. Civil cases do not result in prison terms.

There are also different types of criminal cases there are Simple offences which include disorderly behavior, traffic offences and minor criminal offences. A magistrate deals with simple offences. There are also serious crimes which include murder, rape and GBH these cases are dealt with in a magistrate, crown or a high court.

A recent criminal case in this country is where Ian Huntley was found guilty of murdering two girls under the age of thirteen, and also Maxine Carr for perverting the course of justice.

By having both types of law it separates all the different cases into sections where specific people can help and advise you and also prosecute you, it also makes the law easier to understand and easier to deal with, if you just had “law” where criminal and civil cases were as one the law would be inefficient and unmanageable, it wouldn’t be organized properly and would be too big as a whole.

If there was no legal system the world would be in anarchy where people would do as they please and after a while the world would cease to function properly. If criminal law didn’t exist there would be murders, ABH, GBH etc many more than there are now, there would be thefts so there would be no economy as people wouldn’t be buying anything and then there wouldn’t be anything after a while because the people who make and manufacture goods wouldn’t do anything because they wont be getting anything back (e.g. money), so the world would come to a standstill unless something was sorted out. If there was no civil law there would be no care for public safety so food could be made to an unhygienic standard so people could become ill and they wouldn’t be able to claim compensation, there would also be minor criminal offences such as speeding.