Criminal v civil

• Rule of law


  A theory that demonstrates that all people are subject to follow and should be punished equally without discrimination
• There are no exams at the end of the year
• Academics who wrote on the rule of law

  • Toney honre
  • A.V. Dicey
• Norms of behaviour which have changed over time

  • Racism - now a hate crime
  • Arranged marriages - now bigamy
• Dicey's explanations of rule of law do not include "You are guilty until proven innocent"
• Substantive areas of law

  • Criminal
  • Civil
  • Tort
• Origins of law


  • Science
  • Processes
  • Events in society (e.g. COVID)
  • Influence of cases
  • Campaigns
  • Other countries
  • Education
  • Government
  • Parliament
  • War
  • Monarchy
  • Religion
  • Media
  • Morals
  • History
  • Health
  • Tradition
  • Wellbeing
• Sources of law


  • Custom law (history/tradition)
  • Statute law/legislation
  • Common law
• Common law


  Judge made law
• Statute law


  Laws made by Parliament
• Key terms for criminal vs civil law

  • Defendant (criminal)
  • Conviction
  • Prosecute
  • Beyond reasonable doubt (criminal)
  • Liability (civil)
  • Small claims track (civil)
  • Balance of probabilities (civil)
  • Claimant (civil)
  • Compensation (civil)
  • Defendant (civil)
• Criminal courts


  • Supreme Court (highest)
  • Court of Appeal
  • High Court
  • Crown Court
  • Magistrates' Court (lowest)
• Civil courts


  • European Court of Justice (highest)
  • Supreme Court
  • Court of Appeal
  • High Court
  • County Court
• 'Actus reus' - the physical act
• 'Mens Rea' - guilty mind
• The 'actus reus' must be voluntary, intentional or reckless.
• Involuntariness is not an excuse unless it was caused by another person acting without consent.
• A defendant can only be convicted if they have both mens rea and actus reus.
• 'Mens rea' - guilty mind
• There are two types of mens rea; specific and general.