DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE Shajeeda Tajdeen BASICS OF LAW Sat, Dec 28, 2019, at ,09:11 PM Introduction: The administration of justice is civil as well as criminal. Criminal justice maintains the social equilibrium in the society (as for instance, imprisonment and fine), whereas the implementation of civil rights and liberties is done with the help of civil remedies (as for instance, damages, specific performance, injunction, restitution of conjugal rights, divorce, etc.) There has been considerable difference of opinion amongst jurists regarding the difference between civil justice and criminal justice. The object of civil proceedings is to enforce rights, while the object of criminal proceedings is to punish the wrongs. Civil liability is mostly remedial, criminal liability is on the whole, penal. Note: It should be taken into consideration that, certainly, punishment features more in criminal proceedings than in civil proceedings, but punishment is not always present in criminal proceedings, nor always in absent in civil proceedings. In criminal case, the accused person is on trial for the offence, and the question is whether such a person is guilty or not. In a civil case, on the other hand, the Court frames issues as to whether the civil rights of a person are violated and if so, whether he is entitled to any relief. While a criminal proceeding determines the guilt or the innocence of a person, a civil proceeding determines the rights and liabilities of the parties to the suit. Crimes are more harmful in their consequence than civil wrongs. It is said that crimes injure the public at large, whereas, civil wrongs injure private individuals. Note: The distinction between civil justice and criminal justice cannot always be maintained because some acts may be considered both as crimes and also civil wrongs. Thus, defamation is both a tort (civil wrong) as well as a crime. Further, it is not always true that crimes are more harmful than civil wrongs, as for instance, the negligence of a contractor (civil wrong) which results in widespread loss of life and property may entail more harmful consequences than, say, a simple assault or a petty theft (which are crimes). In a crime, that State constitutes itself a party to the proceedings, whereas in civil proceedings, private individuals are the litigants before the Court Note: The distinction is also not always maintainable, as there are some crimes where private individuals can be parties and some civil wrongs where the State is the litigant. Conclusion: The difference between criminal justice and civil justice cannot be considered in terms of natural acts or the physical consequences of the act. The distinction lies in the differences in the legal consequences. Civil proceedings, if successful, result in a judgement for damages, or a judgement for payment of a debt or penalty, or in an injunction, or a decree for restitution or specific performance, or in an order for the delivery of possession of land or any other form of relief known distinctively as civil. On the other hand, criminal proceedings, if successful, result in one or a number of punishments, ranging from to hanging to fine, or any other outcome known to belong distinctively to criminal law. In other words, civil justice is administered according to one set of forms, in one set of courts and criminal justice according to another set of forms, in a different set of courts. To sum up, criminal justice attempts at punishment and civil justice attempts at remedy, yet to be accurate, the distinction is more in the nature of the form of the proceedings than in intrinsic nature of the acts.