Civil and Public Law (summary)

Civil law concerns disputes among citizens within country, and public law concerns disputes between citizens and the state, or between one state and another. The main categories of English civil law are: contracts, torts, probate, family law; and the main categories of public law are: crimes, constitutional law and international law.

Civil and public law have some diferences: one of them is that the standarts of proof are higher in a criminal action than in a civil. As it is said in the text: „In English law the prosecution must prove the guilt of a criminal „beyond reasonable doubt“, but the plaintiff in a civil action is required to prove his case „ on the balance of probabilities“. To add to this, „evidence from a criminal trial is not necesserily admissable as evidence in a civil action about the same matter“.One more point is that civil actions are usually started by individuals, and criminal – almost in all cases – by the state. It is known that one party in a civil or criminal action is the defendant, but the party, which brings a criminal action is called prosecution, and which the civil – the plaintiff.

On the other hand, there are some points of cantact between civil and criminal law: „If the loser of a civil case refuses to comply with the order made against him, the procedures for forsing him to comply may rezult in a criminal prosecution“. Also, the guilty defendant in a criminal case will not automatically be found liable in a civil action about the same matter. One more fact forthe end that in English law it is possible to bring a civil action against the police, and there is a right to challenge goverment decisions in courts of law.

My Future Professions

Have you ever dreamt about how you can change the world?.. I always dream... So I have chosen a social work studies to seek this dream. Why to seek? I cann't change the world, nobody can, so I just can try to do something good for my friend, for my town's or country's citizens. My future is to make this future better than it will be...

MRU Simona Vosteryte