Difference between Civil Law and

Criminal Law
March 4, 2022

This article is written by Khushi Sharma pursuing B.A.LLB from IIMT,

IP University (Trainee Associate, Blog iPleaders). This article deals
with the difference between Civil Law and Criminal Law. 

This article has been published by Sneha Mahawar.

Introduction 
As a law student or anybody related to the legal field we might know
every branch that the law of our country expands to, but a layman
may only have basic knowledge of the law. Two of such branches to
which everybody is acquainted are Civil and Criminal laws. These
two subjects are the usual heads under the law which probably
covers the major part of it as well. A generic difference can be
ascertained by anyone but in this article, we are going to analyse in
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 detail what all is covered under Civil and Criminal laws. 

The law of India has a wide variety of segregations under it because

of our widespread population which causes infringement of the laws
by people and infringement of people’s rights. Due to the increase in
such acts, a variety of legislations were needed to be presented in
India which provided us with many types and branches under the
law. The law of India is divided into the following heads of the law – 

Public and Private Law;

Civil Law and Criminal Law;
Substantive and Procedural Law;
Municipal and International Law.

Apart from these we also have Common Laws and Statutory Laws.
These above-mentioned laws cover a huge variety of acts and
legislations under them thus enabling India to have so many different
laws from which we are going to focus on Civil & Criminal law, and
their differences. 

Civil Law 
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 Civil laws in a generic sense mean an injury or harm caused to an
individual or any other private property (corporation) by the act or
the behaviour of any other person. The acts committed by the party
are non-criminal in nature under Civil laws. It commonly deals with
solving disputes between parties. Civil laws usually deal with relief by
providing compensation or fine to the aggrieved party or to the
Court. Damages caused by Civil laws are to be managed by
compensation. Civil law does not create an offence against society at
large, unlike Criminal Law. 

Features of Civil Law 

Civil law being so dynamic is stuck with many varied features and
distinguishing essentials which are as follows – 

1. Civil law is a branch of law in which cases are tried under Civil
Courts and Tribunals relating to that. 
2. The damages caused to either of the parties are resolved by
paying them an amount of money and not through
imprisonment. 
3. They are a set of codified laws and decisions which are binding
on the parties involved. 
4. Civil law is greatly inclined towards contractual obligations as
contract law is the major branch of the same. 

Branches under Civil Law

As mentioned above, Civil Law being so vast has a bunch of dynamic
branches constituting a very fruitful legal career for the people
involved in it. The working machinery under Civil law focuses on
providing dispute resolving mechanisms to the parties. Civil law has
many varied branches, many of them are codified, some are defined
and some are based on precedents. Following are the branches
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 available under Civil laws – 

Contract Law 

The Contract law is one of the most widely practised and used civil
laws. A contract law includes legally enforceable agreements and
contracts and provides effective remedies and procedures for
enforcing contractual relations in general. It provides pertinent
remedies for breach of contract and how an injured party can seek
relief from the court of law. It is a very commonly used branch under
Civil law. The statute governing Contract law is the Indian Contract
Act,1872. The Contract Act regulates all the legally enforceable
contracts and explains what contracts are valid and which are not. 

Tort Law

Tort law is also a widely used branch of Civil law. Tort in Common
Law jurisdiction is Civil law. It includes damage or harm caused by a
person to another person which creates a legal liability towards the
person who has caused harm to the other party. The aggrieved
person can claim damages from the other person who committed a
tortious act. It can include acts like negligence, trespass, invasion of
privacy. Most of the tort law is uncodified and doesn’t have any
prominent statute regulating it. 

Family Law

Family law is the law governing domestic relations. It governs laws in

family matrimonial matters. It includes matters like adoption, wills,
divorce, marriage etc., the family matters can sort for proper court
proceedings or mediation upto their choice. The Family law is
governed by a bunch of statutes like – Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; the
Special Marriage Act, 1954; Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1839,
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 Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, Hindu Succession Act,
1925.

Administrative Law

Administrative law is the division of Civil law that governs the

activities of branches of government. Administrative law is related to
executive branch rulemaking, adjudication or enforcement of laws.
Civil law countries have specialized administrative courts that review
these decisions. Administrative law deals with making decisions for
the units of government. 

Business/ Corporate/ Commercial Laws 

Business laws are the laws that revolve around business and
commerce. This branch of Civil law deals both with public and
private laws. It applies rights, regulations, laws and duties related to
commerce and business. The corporate section of the Civil law is
responsible for laws related to companies. It regulates the formation,
dissolution, investments of the business or the company. Some of
the legislation regulating business and corporate laws are the
Companies Act, 1956, Sales of Goods Act, 1930, SARFAESI Act,
2002, Indian Partnership Act, 1932. 

There are many more branches of Civil law that are commonly seen
in the legal profession like Tax law, Property law,
Media/Entertainment law, Sports law etc. 

Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and Civil Law 

Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 is the law that is behind the procedure
of civil proceedings. The institution of a case is explained in the Code
of Civil procedure (CPC) and other procedures related to Civil Law.
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 The code is divided into two parts – the first containing 158 Sections
and the second part containing the 1st Schedule which has 51
Orders and Rules. All the proceedings under Civil law must be in
accordance with CPC for taking action in the Court. CPC is an
important tool for Civil litigation. Budding lawyers to specialise in Civil
law must be thoroughly well versed with it.

Criminal Law 
Criminal law is the law that relates to crime and its related
punishments. Criminal law deals with offences that are against
conventional society. It is a crime against the state because of the
evil nature of the crime and every member of society must know the
heinous crime committed and the equivalent punishment given to
the accused. There must be adequate awareness in the case of
Criminal law rather than Civil law. Criminal law consists of acts that
are harmful or otherwise endangering the health or property of a
person. Criminal law focuses on punishment and retribution more
than dispute resolving as seen in Civil law. The acts constituting
under Criminal Law are graver than Civil law as the damage and
injury are caused to a person in a way that can be very terrifying for
society to imagine and to live. 

Features of Criminal Law

1. Cases under Criminal law are tried under Criminal Courts or
Sessions Court.
2. The harm done to a person is justified by providing equivalent
punishments to the perpetrator.
3. It creates a public offence against the public interest and not a
private liability. 
4. It is an infringement of public rights. 
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 Acts under Criminal Law
Unlike Civil law, Criminal law is not varied as such into branches but it
has some very important procedural and regulating acts which are
required pertinent for being considered as a criminal case. These
acts govern all the rules and regulations for criminal acts. Following
are the acts under Criminal law – 

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official code for criminal law in
India. IPC is the substantive law of India The Code contains all the
offences that are constituted as crimes in India. It explains all the
crimes, their essentials and the mentioned punishments for the
same. Every crime ever committed in the history of India is
mentioned under this code. This Code was created by the
recommendations of the First Law Commission of India. The Code
contains 23 chapters and 511 Sections in total. 

The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

The procedure for criminal law is mentioned in the Code of Criminal

Procedure (CrPC). It governs the procedural administration of the
substantive laws. It also provides information and procedure for the
investigation of crime, apprehension of crime, collectiction of
evidence, direction for guilty or innocent and provides direction
towards the punishment as well. The Act contains 565 Sections, 5
Schedules and 56 forms. 

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 

The Evidence Act, 1872 provides for the admissibility of evidence in

the court of law. It mentions the way evidence is collected and what
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 types of admissible evidence are present. The Evidence Act also
mentions details about the relevancy of facts and how they can be a
crucial element in proving the existence of a crime. It gives immense
importance to the series of facts committed and all the evidence
recorded amidst it. It contains a total of 167 Sections. 

Difference between Civil Law and Criminal

law 
S.no  Parameters  Civil Law  Criminal Law
Civil law deals with acts
Criminal law deals with a crime that
related to individuals to
causes damage to a person which is an
which harm caused can
h Meaning offence against society as well. The relief
be repaid by
of crime committed is to charge the
compensation or
person with Imprisonment. 
monetary relief. 
It creates a private liability
It creates a liability for the preparator
l Liability  against an individual or an
against society and the victim.  
organisation. 
Justice is given by
providing monetary relief Justice is given by providing the accused
Punishment 
against the damages in imprisonment for a term or fine or both. 
most cases. 
Cases under Civil law are
Cases under Criminal law are tried under
t Triable  triable under Civil Court or
Criminal Court or Sessions Court. 
equivalent tribunals. 
Objective of Civil law is Objective of Criminal law is providing
Objective  dispute resolution justice to the victim by punishing the
between Individuals  accused. 
Procedural Code of Civil Procedure,
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
Law  1908
Gravity of
g Less grave than Criminal  More grave than Civil
offences 
In Civil Cases the
Filing of the In Criminal Cases, the government files
aggrieved party files the
case  on behalf of the victim
case 
Normally in Civil Cases, In Criminal Cases, the case needs to be
r Registration  the case can be directly registered in the police office before the
filed to the Court.   court directly
Infringement of private
Infringement  Infringement of public rights 
rights 
Corporate law, Family law,
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 Branches  Property law, Media law, No diversion as such
Sports law etc.
Examples of Negligence, Invasion of
. Murder, Rape, Kidnapping, theft etc. 
Acts  privacy, Trespass etc. 

Conclusion 
There is an indeterminate difference between Civil and Criminal law.
Both being the most important branches of law have their own
unique sets of regulations and rules. Civil and Criminal laws are
regulated by strong legislation and procedural laws. Civil law has
dispute resolution machinery whereas Criminal law has retribution
machinery. These two branches of law cover most parts of the law.
People willing to choose between them can choose any as they are
very important for the effective working for our country. Branches of
Civil law are more varied than Criminal law. Civil law has many
diversions as we observed, it contains Property law, Corporate law,
Business Law and many more. Some branches of Civil law are
uncodified such as torts but under Criminal law almost all the laws
and regulations are codified, so each and every point which
distinguishes both the law stands out and creates full-fledged
machinery for our country to work and eliminate crime efficiently,
whether it’s in the offices or roads. 

References
https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1974-02.pdf
https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/justice-studies/blog/civil-
law-versus-criminal-law/

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