Civil Law vs Criminal Law - Difference and Comparison

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	Civil Law	Criminal Law
Examples:	Landlord/tenant disputes, divorce proceedings, child custody proceedings, property disputes (real estate or material), etc.	Theft (by deception or unlawful taking), assault, robbery, wanton endangerment, trafficking in controlled substances, alcohol intoxication, etc.
Definition:	Civil law deals with the disputes between individuals, organizations, or between the two, in which compensation is awarded to the victim.	Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of statutory and common law that deals with crime and the legal punishment of criminal offenses.
Type of punishment:	A defendant in civil litigation is never incarcerated and never executed. Losing defendant in civil litigation only reimburses the plaintiff for losses caused by the defendant’s behavior.	A guilty defendant is punished by either incarceration in a jail or fine paid to the government, or, in exceptional cases, the death penalty. Crimes are divided into two broad classes: Felonies and Misdemeanors.
Burden of proofs:	Burden of proofs is initially on the plaintiff and then switches to the defendants.	Burden of proofs is always on the state/government.
Case file:	By private party.	By government.

Civil law and criminal law are two broad and separate entities of law with separate sets of laws and punishments.

According to William Geldart, Introduction to English Law 146 (D.C.M. Yardley ed., 9th ed. 1984). “The difference between civil law and criminal law turns on the difference between two different objects which law seeks to pursue - redress or punishment. The object of civil law is the redress of wrongs by compelling compensation or restitution: the wrongdoer is not punished; he only suffers so much harm as is necessary to make good the wrong he has done. The person who has suffered gets a definite benefit from the law, or at least he avoids a loss. On the other hand, in the case of crimes, the main object of the law is to punish the wrongdoer; to give him and others a strong inducement not to commit same or similar crimes, to reform him if possible and perhaps to satisfy the public sense that wrongdoing ought to meet with retribution.”

1 Case
2 Punishment
3 Burdens of proof
4 How the system works
5 See Also
6 References

[edit] Case

In civil law, the case is filed by a private party which may be an individual, an organization, a company, or a corporation against another party called the plaintiff. Punitive damages are never awarded in a civil case. On the other hand, in a criminal law case, litigation is filed by the government (called the prosecution) against a defendant. An individual can never file criminal charges against another person; only the prosecution can do this. Crimes are divided into two broad classes: felonies having a maximum possible sentence of more than one year incarceration; misdemeanors having a maximum possible sentence of less than one year incarceration.

[edit] Punishment

One of the notable differences between civil law and criminal law is the punishment. In case of criminal law a person found guilty is punished by incarceration in a prison, a fine, or in some occasion’s death penalty. Whereas, in case of civil law the losing party has to reimburse the plaintiff, the amount of loss which is determined by the judge and is called punitive damage. A criminal litigation is more serious than civil litigation in that criminal defendants have more rights and protections than a civil defendant.

[edit] Burdens of proof

In case of criminal law, the burden of proof lies with the government in order to prove that the defendant is guilty. On the other hand, in case of civil law the burden of proof first lies with the plaintiff and then with the defendant to refute the evidence provided by the plaintiffs. In case of civil litigation if the judge or jury believes that there are more than 50% of the evidence favoring the plaintiffs, then plaintiffs win, which is very low as compared to 99% proof for criminal law. In case of criminal law, defendant is not declared guilty unless there are approximately more than 99% proofs against him.

[edit] How the system works

One can say that criminal law deals with looking after public interests. It involves punishing and rehabilitating offenders, and protecting the society. The police and prosecutor are hired by the government to put the criminal law into effect. Public funds are used to pay for these services. If suppose you are the victim of the crime, you report it to the police and then it is their duty to investigate the matter and find the suspect . In most cases, if a charge has been properly presented and if there is evidence supporting it, the Government, not the person who complains of the incident, prosecutes it in the courts. This is called a system of public prosecutions. On the other hand, civil law is about private disputes between individuals or between an individual and an organization or between organizations. Civil law deals with the harm, loss, or injury to one party or the other. A defendant in a civil case is found liable or not liable for damages, while in a criminal case defendant may be found guilty or not.