Criminal and civil hearings.

A crime is regarded as a wrong done to the state. Prosecutions are usually commenced by the state though they may be brought by a private citizen. If the prosecution is successful the accused person ‘ Defendant ‘ is liable to punishment.

Some crimes have specific victims such as ‘rape ‘. A man commits rape if he has unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman, who at the time of intercourse does not consent, and knowing that she does not consent, or being reckless as to whether she consents.

Others such as Treason or Speeding can be committed without causing loss to any particular person.

Criminal and civil hearings take place in different courts with different rules and procedure; there is also a different standard of proof. In a Criminal trial the prosecution must prove the accused guilty ‘beyond reasonable doubt ‘. In a criminal trial the plaintiff

{Attorney for the defense} must prove his cases “ on the balance of probabilities.”

As examples of this procedure may be cited the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the provision for the making of Anti Social Behavior Orders available under s 1(1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

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Both of these provisions are of considerable interest and deserve some attention in their own right. The Protection from Harassment Act was introduced as a measure to deal with ‘stalking’, the harassment of individuals by people continuously following them, and allowed the victim of harassment to get a court order to prevent stalking. Whereas stalking may have been the high profile source of the Act, it is possible, however, that its most useful provision, if it is used appropriately, may actually lie in providing more protection for women who are subject to assault and harassment from their partners than ...

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Prosecutions for less serious offences are know as “ Summary Offences” and are commenced in the name of the prosecutor normally a police officer, e.g. Evans_v__Jones. Where the offence is serious or Public Prosecution ( DPP) may investigate and prosecute .

Civil law has its origin in Roman law, civil law may be commenced by any person who seeks compensation for loss, which he has suffered, if the plaintiff is successful he will be awarded damages. The defendant must pay damages; there purpose is to compensate the plaintiff for his loss, rather than to punish the defendant.

In distinguishing between criminal and civil actions, it has to be remembered that the same event may give rise to both. For example, where the driver of a car injures someone through their reckless driving, they will be liable to be prosecuted under the Road Traffic legislation, but at the same time they will also be responsible to the injured party in the civil law relating to the tort of negligence.

A crucial distinction between criminal and civil law is the level of proof required in the different types of cases. In the criminal case, the prosecution is required to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt, whereas in a civil case, the degree of proof is much lower and has only to be on the balance of probabilities. The difference in the level of proof raises the possibility of someone being able t o succeed in a civil case, although there may not be sufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution. Indeed, this strategy has been used successfully in a number of cases against the police where the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has considered there to be insufficient evidence to support a criminal conviction for assault. A successful civil action may even put pressure on the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider its previous decisions not to prosecute.

The Categories of civil law are:-

Contract Law- This determined whether promises made by persons are enforceable.

Cases include:-

Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Ltd.
Balfour v Balfour
Meritt v Meritt
Jones v Paddavaton
Donoghue v Stevenson (1932)

Property Law- This includes the law relating to freehold and leasehold land and ownership and possession of goods.
Company Law- This is used to regulate the relationship that a company has directors, shareholders, creditors and employees.
Commercial Law- This area is concerned with contracted matters relating to business transactions.
Employment Law- This also involves contractual relationships between employers and employees. This branch also deals with redundancy, unfair dismissal and health & safety at work.
Family Law- Includes marriages, divorce, nullity, guardianship and legitimacy- within the scope of family law, also involves the rights, duties and status of husband and wife, property and child adoption, domestic violence etc.

In considering the relationship between civil law and criminal law, it is sometimes thought that criminal law, is the more important in maintaining social order, but it is at least arguable that, in reality, the reverse is the case. For the most part, people come into contact with the criminal law infrequently whereas everyone is continuously involved with civil law, even if it is only the use of contract law to make some purchase. The criminal law of theft, for example, may be seen as simply the cutting edge of the wider and more fundamental rights established by general property law. There also remains the fact that civil and criminal law each has its own distinct legal system.

Conclusively therefore, there is no such thing as inherently criminal conduct. A crime is whatever the state has forbidden on pain of legal punishment. The conduct that attracts criminal sanctions changes over time and according to different social systems. The terminology and outcomes of the two systems are different. In criminal cases, the prosecutor prosecutes the defendant (or accused); in civil cases, the claimant sues the defendant.