Criminal law and Civil law
While speaking about law, it can be classified in many different ways. One of the major classifications of law is into civil law and criminal law. While these two are obviously different from each other, occasionally there are a few commonalities as well. The major difference between criminal law vs civil law is that while civil law deals with disagreements between people, criminal law on the other hand deals with individuals who break the law with malicious or deviant intentions.
Aspects of Civil law
In cases of civil law, generally two parties try to resolve some kind of a misunderstanding. For instance, any individual who was injured in a car accident because of the negligence of another is entitled to receive compensation for the injuries he had to suffer. A disagreement over a particular property or a contractor who is sued for not delivering the package that he had promised are two other examples of civil litigation. Alternatively, it could be a contractor who finished the entrusted work on time, but is not being paid.
In such cases of disagreements or quarrels, both the parties will represent their circumstances before the law and negotiate to try to reach a compromise between the involving parties. Civil law is a type of community law wherein they settle disagreements between close relatives, next of kin and even parental bonds and romantic relationships in addition to business transaction disagreements.
Differences between Criminal and Civil law
A crime committed by an insane person will not be taken into consideration. The law defines insane as ‘unable to realize the nature and consequences of his action and unable to know right from wrong.’ A crime committed in a state of drunkenness or after voluntary use of drugs cannot be considered as insanity. However, they will be exempted if they were under the influence of drugs that were prescribed as medication. Children below the age limit set by law (different for different states, usually 15-16) will also be excused, as juvenile misbehavior is not considered a crime. Youngsters above the prescribed age will be considered as ‘youthful offenders’ and if not repeated, their crime will be later expunged from the records.
That was some info on legal aspects of civil regulations and litigations. For more information on criminal law vs civil law and the procedures followed, refer online legal resources. You can also go down to your local library and refer their law section.