Compare and contrast criminal and civil law

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Some harms are the basis for lawsuits even though they are not crimes. These private or civil lawsuits differ from criminal actions in several respects. In criminal cases, the government and the defendant are the parties to the case. So the title of the criminal case is State (or U.S., Commonwealth, or People) v. Munckton (defendant). In private personal injury actions (called torts or civil cases), plaintiffs sue wrongdoers (defendants) to get money (called damages) as compensation for their injuries. Torts or civil cases carry the names of the parties to the lawsuit; the plaintiff's name is first, as in Chan (plaintiff) v. Gonzalez (defendant).

Criminal cases rest on the notion that crime harms society generally, leaving individual injuries to tort or civil actions, but almost all crimes against persons and property are also torts. A burglary, for instance, consists of the tort of trespass; a criminal assault consists of the tort of criminal assault. For litigants to bring a civil case, they must have standing. Standing means that the litigant must have a personal stake in the outcome. Civil cases differ from criminal cases in the standard of proof. Civil cases require only a preponderance of the evidence instead of the criminal case's more stringent standard of proof, beyond a reasonable doubt. Also, in criminal cases there are extensive due process guarantees for the defendant. Most of these guarantees do not apply in a civil case. Litigants and defendants, for example, are not entitled to counsel.