Curs 3

Types of law

Unitatea de învăţare:
1. Public law and private law
2. Civil law and criminal law
3. Substantive law and adjective law

Bibliografie:
1. Badea, Simina, Legal English - A Practical Approach, Editura Universitaria, Craiova,
2014, p. 14-21. 2. Lister, R.; K. Veth, Dicţionar juridic român-englez, englez-român,
Traducere: Roxana Dinulescu, Editura Niculescu, Bucureşti, 2010.
3. *** Oxford Dictionary of Law, 6th edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006.

Obiectivele modulului:
Dupǎ studiul acestei unitǎţi de învǎţare veţi reuşi sǎ:
 dobândiţi termenii juridici care fac referire la principalele ramuri ale dreptului
 descoperiţi termenii echivalenţi din limba română
 vă familiarizaţi cu elementele predate prin activităţi aplicative
 vă dezvoltaţi abilităţile de comunicare în limba engleză pe teme cu caracter juridic

Types of law
There are three main distinctions between:
- public law and private law;
- civil law and criminal law;
- substantive law and adjective law.
a) Public law is the body of law which governs the relations between private individuals
and the state. It consists of constitutional law, criminal law and administrative law taken
together.
The main categories of public law are:
 Criminal law, which is the body of law defining offences against the community as a
whole, regulating how suspects are investigated, charged and tried, and establishing
punishments for convicted offenders.
 Constitutional law, which regulates the way the law itself operates and the relations
between private citizens and government.
 Administrative law, which refers to the law governing the organization and operation
of the executive branch of government and the relations of the executive with the legislature,
the judiciary and the public.
Private law is the body of law dealing with private persons and their property and
relationships.
b) For practical purposes, the most significant distinction remains between civil law and
criminal law.
Civil law, as a form of private law, regulates civil or private rights, as opposed to
criminal law or administrative law. The purpose of civil law is to settle disputes between
individuals and to provide remedies to the persons who feel wronged or injured, not to punish
wrongdoers. The state sets the general legal framework and provides the legal institutions to
operate the rights of individuals in such cases.
The main categories of English civil law are:
• Contracts, which represent binding agreements between people (or companies).
 • Torts, which are wrongful acts committed by one individual against another
individual’s person, property or reputation. The law of tort is mainly concerned with
providing compensation for personal injury and property damage caused by negligence. It
also protects other interests, such as reputation, personal freedom, title to property and
commercial interests.
• Trusts, which are arrangements whereby a settlor transfers property to one or more
trustees, who will hold it for the benefit of one or more persons (the beneficiaries, who may
include the trustee(s) or the settlor).
• Succession
• Family law
• Employment law etc.
Criminal law, as an aspect of public law, refers to acts deemed to be public wrongs
which, even when committed against an individual, are considered to harm the well-being of
society. Criminal law establishes the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable conduct. A
person who fails to observe the criminal law is regarded as having committed an offence
against society as a whole. In point of terminology, crime or offence is a general term
indicating non-compliance with the law.
In some cases, an action can violate both civil and criminal law. For instance, a person
who has driven carelessly and injured another, will be liable to be prosecuted under the Road
Traffic legislation and will be responsible to the injured party in a civil action.
c) Substantive law and adjective law
The rules of substantive law are those legal rules guiding the courts in rendering
decisions, whereas the procedural rules (adjective or procedural law) are those rules by
which the law is enforced in the courts.
Substantive law means law in the strict sense. It deals with all other matters that are not
matters purely of practice and procedure, as opposed to adjective law.
Adjective law governs the machinery by which substantive law is enforced, namely the
rules of evidence and procedure in civil and criminal courts.
For example, if a man kills another, it is a question of substantive law as to whether the
appropriate charge is murder (killing with malice aforethought) or manslaughter (involuntary
manslaughter or in mitigating circumstances). Once he has been charged with either of these
crimes, the rules of procedure will govern: how his guilt should be proved; what evidence
should be admissible at his trial; how the evidence should be presented in court.

Word study
civil law = drept civil
criminal law = drept penal
to charge with = a acuza de
to try = a judeca
legislature = legiuitor, putere legislativă
judiciary = putere judecătorească
remedy = compensație, despăgubiri
damage = prejudiciu, prejudicii
damages = despăgubire, despăgubiri, daune interese
tort = faptă ilicită cauzatoare de prejudiciu
trust = fiducie
settlor = constituitor
trustee = fiduciar
liable = răspunzător
substantive law = drept material
 adjective law = drept procesual

Concluzii
There are three main distinctions between:
- public law and private law;
- civil law and criminal law;
- substantive law and adjective law.
Public law is the body of law which governs the relations between private individuals and
the state.
Private law is the body of law dealing with private persons and their property and
relationships.
Criminal law is the body of law defining offences against the community as a whole,
regulating how suspects are investigated, charged and tried, and establishing punishments for
convicted offenders.
Civil law, as a form of private law, regulates civil or private rights, as opposed to criminal
law or administrative law.
Substantive law means law in the strict sense. It deals with all other matters that are not
matters purely of practice and procedure, as opposed to adjective law.
Adjective law governs the machinery by which substantive law is enforced, namely the
rules of evidence and procedure in civil and criminal courts.

Test de autoevaluare:
1. At how many levels can you distinguish between various law branches? – 2 puncte
2. Which are the main differences between civil law and criminal law? – 2 puncte
3. Categories of civil law. – 2 puncte
4. Substantive law vs. adjective law. – 2 puncte
5. What are torts? – 2 puncte

Traduceri: 1. Dreptul civil este acea ramură a dreptului care reglementează atât raporturi
patrimoniale, cât şi nepatrimoniale.
Răspuns: Civil law is that branch of law which regulates both patrimonial and non-
patrimonial relations.

2. Dreptul procesual civil cuprinde totalitatea normelor juridice care reglementează

modul în care se desfăşoară activitatea organelor judiciare, a părţilor şi a celorlalţi
participanţi, precum şi raporturile ce se stabilesc între aceştia în vederea soluţionării cauzelor
civile şi executării hotărârilor pronunţate în aceste cauze.
Dreptul penal cuprinde totalitatea normelor juridice care reglementează relaţiile de
apărare socială, prin stabilirea acţiunilor sau inacţiunilor ce constituie infracţiuni şi a
pedepselor aplicabile persoanelor care au săvârşit astfel de fapte.
Dreptul procesual penal se referă la ansamblul normelor juridice ca reguli de conduită
specifică, ce reglementează desfăşurarea procesului penal.

Grile:

1. Public law consists of those fields of law mainly concerned with the ... itself and the
relations between private individuals and the state.
a. legislature
b. public
 c. state

2. Crimes are ... which the state has to prevent.

a. wrongs
b. offences
c. deeds

3. Criminal law:
a. defines offences, provides remedy, regulates the investigation and prosecution of those
who are accused of committing offences
b. defines offences, inflicts punishments, regulates the investigation and prosecution of
those who are accused of committing offences
c. resolves disputes and provides remedy

4. Criminal law does not:

a. prevent physical harm, death or bodily injury
b. have penalties
c. award the injured person money for his loss

5. Criminal law includes:

a. both substantive law and criminal procedure
b. both adjective law and criminal procedure
c. the enforcement of law

6. Private law mainly deals with the rights and ... of individuals.
a. titles
b. duties
c. abilities

7. A lawsuit can be brought:

a. when one person feels wronged or injured by another person
b. when the government takes action against a person charged with committing a crime
c. both

8. Civil law rules:

a. establish which of the two parties was in the right
b. establish if the state was in the right
c. establish what punishment an offender should receive

9. Adjective law governs such matters as how the case is to be presented, in what court it
shall ..., or when it is to be tried.
a. present
b. perform
c. lie