What is the difference between criminal and civil law?

Difference between Criminal and Civil Law

Law as a field is very vast, it’s an amalgam of various field each with its own vast sections and sub sections to deal and understand. 

Criminal Law and Civil Law are two very different and broad categories of the Law world. They differ on various grounds from court for trial of the case to the ultimate punishment that the guilty receives. That's why the trial, you need to approach lawyers with specialization in particular fields of either the civil laws or criminal laws.

The detailed difference is as below:

 

The Civil Law deals with cases where disputes arise between two parties and is not able to be solved by mutual understanding. The civil law includes laws for solving property related disputes, Landlord - Tenant disputes, Divorce cases, Child custody, Personal/Reputation injuries, etc.

 

The Criminal Law deals with cases where a crime is committed by the accused causing injury to the victim or society in general. And the accused needs to be punished so that the said crime could not be committed again.  The criminal law includes law for dealing with crimes like theft, abduction, assault, human trafficking, drug abuse, murder, rape, etc.

 

Civil Law

 

• In civil law the wrongdoer has to compensate the aggrieved party by some amount of money or give up to the demand against whom it lost the case. The wrongdoer can also get sued by the aggrieved party, as the objective of civil law is to provide justice to aggrieved party by compensating and providing relief in terms of cash or possession over the disputed subject and settle the dispute.

 

• In civil law the trial is initiated after one of the disputing parties (usually the aggrieved party) files to fight the dispute legally in a court or tribunal. The government often has no say in filing cases.

 

• In civil law the power of the court lies in passing judgment or prohibitory order to compensate the aggrieved party.

 

• In civil law the defendant is either responsible or not responsible.

 

• In civil law the responsibility of providing the evidence lies on the aggrieved party also called plaintiff.

 

Criminal Law

 

• In criminal law the accused if found guilty gets punishment in correspondence to the degree of crime committed. The objective of the criminal law is to punish the criminals, protect people and maintain the law and order in the society.

 

• In criminal law the trial is initiated after a complaint i.e. FIR is first registered in the police station and the crime will need to be investigated by  the police and thereafter the case will be filed and trialed in the court. The responsibility of filing the case in general lies with the government/state.

 

• In criminal law the power of the court lies in charging the accused, imprisonment of the guilty and discharge of the accused. The punishment meted out to the guilty is adjudicated in accordance to the severity of the crime committed.

 

• In criminal law the accused is either deemed guilty or not guilty by the court.

 

• In criminal law the responsibility of providing the evidence lies on the state/government.

Every of field of law needs a specialist who has knowledge of the subject as well as experience to understand and deal with the cases. Every time you want to either study or hire a lawyer at your service it’s important to approach a specialist with deep knowledge as well as experience.

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