The legal system of United States is composed of two different laws when it involving law litigation, which are civil and criminal. Civil laws, according to Melvin (2011), “are designed to compensate parties for losses as a result of another’s conduct” (Melvin, 2011, p. 18). Criminal law, on the other hand, is a set of rules and regulations that define behaviors prohibited by the government, in which it protects the safety of society.
One of the essential differences between civil and criminal law is in the punishment. For example, a man goes to a bank. He points his gun at a bank teller and yelling on the teller to put the money in a bag. Then, he runs off with the bag of money. This is a bank robbery, is an example of crime. It will be prosecuted …show more content…
Substantive law is primarily the rationale of setting rights and responsibilities to each party involved in a case (Melvin, 2011). This can be done in many types of cases such as criminal, property, contract, and tort law. Procedural law is different because it establishes what the rights and responsibilities are but not who is the entity. For example in a substantive law that is used in a criminal case, the law shows that the act of committing murder is illegal. It would be the responsibility of the prosecutor to show without a reasonable doubt who committed the murder. Procedural law, in this case, would provide the defendant the right to jury trial. Without a jury trial available to the defendant his or her rights would not be justified, thus be against procedural law guidelines in this case. The jury trial would allow the defendant to plea his or her case to his peers to show the prosecutor is wrong in his or her accusations. Procedural law is the procedures endured in a trial while substantive law is the law itself (Melvin, 2011). Common law was made by the appellate courts. It is developed by previous judges and becomes precedent over similar cases. The principle that similar cases become common law is called stare decisis. When the judge deems the cases to be unique, he will make his decisions based on the facts and rule the case a first impression. Stare decisis is the basis of common
One of the essential differences between civil and criminal law is in the punishment. For example, a man goes to a bank. He points his gun at a bank teller and yelling on the teller to put the money in a bag. Then, he runs off with the bag of money. This is a bank robbery, is an example of crime. It will be prosecuted …show more content…
Substantive law is primarily the rationale of setting rights and responsibilities to each party involved in a case (Melvin, 2011). This can be done in many types of cases such as criminal, property, contract, and tort law. Procedural law is different because it establishes what the rights and responsibilities are but not who is the entity. For example in a substantive law that is used in a criminal case, the law shows that the act of committing murder is illegal. It would be the responsibility of the prosecutor to show without a reasonable doubt who committed the murder. Procedural law, in this case, would provide the defendant the right to jury trial. Without a jury trial available to the defendant his or her rights would not be justified, thus be against procedural law guidelines in this case. The jury trial would allow the defendant to plea his or her case to his peers to show the prosecutor is wrong in his or her accusations. Procedural law is the procedures endured in a trial while substantive law is the law itself (Melvin, 2011). Common law was made by the appellate courts. It is developed by previous judges and becomes precedent over similar cases. The principle that similar cases become common law is called stare decisis. When the judge deems the cases to be unique, he will make his decisions based on the facts and rule the case a first impression. Stare decisis is the basis of common