Civil Law Case Study

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There are two types of law in the U.S. judicial system: criminal law and civil law. Civil law is considered as a law that is designed to address private wrongs. “A private citizen who believes that he or she has been injured in some way by another may sue that party for damages” (Hemmens, Brody, & Spohn, 2013). Civil law as stated before is the settling of disputes between private citizens since many disagreements can arise concerning anything from property, contracts, and even personal injuries. Therefore, civil laws can provide citizens remedies for the individuals who are considered harmed by another. These cases are divided into four categories: torts, property, contracts, and family law. Each one of these categories are broken down into specifics and are handle in a variety of ways. …show more content…

“The state is treated as the aggrieved party, and the alleged wrongdoer is the defendant” (Hemmens, Brody, & Spohn, 2013). Criminal laws are often referred to as substantive laws, meaning they are considered laws of crime. These laws are often defined by a status which both prescribes, what people should do, and proscribes different types of behavior, or what people should not do. Therefore, these laws are in place as a code of conduct for society to follow and prohibit things such as murder, theft, and assault. If a person violates one of these laws then it is treated as an act against both the state and the victim. “The primary purpose of criminal law is this to protect the public from harm by punishing harmful acts that have occurred and seeking to avoid harm by forbidding conduct that may lead to it” (Hemmens, Brody, & Spohn,

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