Friday, July 23, 2010

Civil Law and Criminal Law



try to find out the difference between Civil and Criminal..




got this..here







Civil Law
determines private rights and liabilities, whereas
Criminal Law
concerns offenses against the authority of the state.






Litigation
is simply another term for a lawsuit, which is a dispute between two or more parties regarding civil or criminal law issues. Civil law involves disputes between private parties and defines legal rights and obligations between them. Civil litigation is the process of resolving private disputes through the court system. Unless the parties privately resolve their dispute, the litigation usually results in a trial, or hearing, where the parties present their evidence to a judge or jury. The judge or jury then decides the dispute.


Not all cases that involve litigation are considered civil litigation. Our court system is designed to handle both civil and criminal cases. Criminal law defines conduct prohibited by legislative bodies, which also presccribes the punishments for violations.




The
plaintiff
is the party that has allegedly suffered some legal wrong at the hands of the
defendant
, the party responsible for infringing upon theplaintiff's rights. The plaintiff files a lawsuit against the defendant, using the courts as the forum to argue that the defendant should be held responsible for the plaintiff's injuries and should compensate theplaintiff for its losses.







Criminal lawsuits differ from their civil counterparts in that criminal prosecutions are intended to convict and punish the criminal offender, whereas civil lawsuits are designed to settle disputes between private parties. In criminal actions, the convicteddefendant may be punished by imprisonment, or fined by the government. In civil suits, however, thedefendant who losses judgment to the plaintiff, must compensate the plaintiff directly.










Civil litigation, which deals with private disputes between parties, is subject to the rules of civil litigation, sometimes referred to as
civil procedure
. Criminal cases, which deal with acts that are offenses against society as a whole, such as murder and robbery, as subject to the rules for criminal law, which are also known as the rules of
criminal procedure
.















Sometimes the same act results in both a civil and a criminal action. For example, suppose that Ann Smith drives her car while under the influence of alcohol. As a result, she crushes into another vehicle and injures the driver of that car, John Watson. Ann Smith would be arrested for the crime of drunk driving, but John Watson might also sue civilly. The civil case (Watson vs. Smith) will proceed according to the rules of civil procedure.







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