Difference between Common Law and Criminal Law

Key Difference: Common Laws are laws that have come about of been enacted based on court rulings. These laws are developed based on rulings that have been given in older court cases. Common laws are also known as case law or precedent. Criminal Law is the body of law that deals with crimes and providing justice to victims of crimes. The body is responsible for regulating the laws regarding threatening, harming, or otherwise endangering the health, safety, and moral welfare of people. It also deals with punishing the people that break these rules.

Rules, laws and acts are important to almost any organization or country. The rules and laws ensure that there be peace and tranquility maintained among the people. Laws also ensures that everyone is treated the same and no one is placed above the law based on their social standing. There are various different types of laws that often confuse people because of their technical wordings. Common law and criminal law are two types of law that deal with different aspects, though they may overlap in some situations. Common law refers to making decisions based on previous court rulings, while criminal law is the body of law that deals with crimes.

Common Laws are laws that have come about of been enacted based on court rulings. These laws are developed based on rulings that have been given in older court cases. Common laws are also known as case law or precedent. These rules can be written as well as unwritten. In a common law justice system, the laws of a country depend on the rulings or decisions of courts or other tribunals, where it is believed justice prevailed.

The general principal of this system is that similar cases with similar facts and issues should not be treated differently. If there is a dispute between laws, the authority or precedent looks to past cases and must provide the same reasoning and decision that was provided in the first case. The laws can also be altered and evolved based on the circumstances. The judges also have the authority to create new laws. Many countries live in common law systems or mixed systems.

Criminal Law is the body of law that deals with crimes and providing justice to victims of crimes. The body is responsible for regulating the laws regarding threatening, harming, or otherwise endangering the health, safety, and moral welfare of people. It also deals with punishing the people that break these rules. Criminal law deals with strict punishments such as arrest, confinement, fines and even death. Wikipedia states the five objectives of criminal law that are widely accepted are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and restoration.

Retribution is when the criminal is made to pay by any means. The theory is based on righting the scales between the criminal and the victim. Deterrence is the goal to impose a hefty enough fine on the criminal that it would discourage other people from doing the same crime. Incapacitation is to keep the criminal away from the society and to protect the public. Rehabilitation aims at reforming the criminal into a member of the society. Finally restoration is to make the criminal pay the victim back for the crime. This is often used in embezzlement and other money related disputes. The range of the punishment varies depending on the crime committed by the criminal. There is also an international criminal court in The Hague to punish people that have committed ghastly crimes around the world.

Image Courtesy: neohouston.com, wheelocklawfirm.com

Most Searched in Food and Drink Most Searched in Computers and Internets
Most Searched in Education and References Most Searched in Electronics
HeartGold vs SoulSilver
Alloy vs Steel
Nokia Lumia 925 vs iPhone 5
Chinese vs Korean

Add new comment

Plain text

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.