The Law

The broadest categories of law

are International Law and
Domestic Law
 International Law
Includes laws that govern independent nations in
their relationships with one another.
 Created by custom
 Nations sign treaties and are considered binding as
law
 Some organizations have international legal status
(UN and International Courts)
 Difficult to enforce international law
Domestic Law
Law that governs activity within a nation’s
borders.
 Nation’s law making authority come from a
constitution.
 Includes both case law and statute law.
 All within a country’s borders are subject to that
nation’s laws.
Divisions of Domestic
Law

Domestic Law is divided into

substantive and procedural
law
Substantive Law
Law that defines the rights, duties, and obligations of
citizens and government.
 Your conduct is governed by substantive law
 Examples include right to own and protect property, entering
into contracts, and the rules of the road
 IPC
 A specific example of a substantive law is a law prohibiting
trespassing on another’s property. Why? Because such a law
creates and defines trespassing and puts would-be trespassers on
notice regarding the liability (if it is civil trespassing) or
punishment (if it is criminal trespassing) that they face for
violating the law.
Procedural Law
Law that prescribes the methods of enforcing
the rights and obligations of substantive law.
 Ensures that all citizens are treated fairly
 Ensures that neither the police or courts act
arbitrarily
 Examples include proper procedures to gather
evidence, requirements for lawful arrest, and
trial procedures
 Cr.P.C., C.P.C.
 Also known as Adjective law.
 is a law that creates and controls the process
of enforcing the rights and duties under
substantive law. General examples include
the rules of evidence, jurisdiction, and
pleading and practice (which are referred to
as either civil procedure or criminal
procedure, depending on the type of
proceeding).
 A specific example of a procedural law is a statute of
limitations.
 A statute of limitations is a statute that creates a time
limit for bringing a civil case (i.e., filing a lawsuit) or a
criminal case (i.e., initiating a prosecution); typically, the
time limit is measured from the date of the event giving rise
to the lawsuit or prosecution.
 This means that in personal injury cases, for instance, a
lawsuit must be brought within a certain period of time
after the injury occurred; otherwise, it will be time-barred.
 The case could be very strong substantively; but that is
immaterial because a court will dismiss the case on
procedural grounds.
Divisions of Substantive Law

Substantive law is divided into

Public and Private law
Divisions of Substantive Law

Public Law
Public Law
Regulates the relationship between
government and its citizens

The categories of public law are as

under:
1) Constitutional Law
2) Administrative Law
3) Criminal Law
 Public law is that area of constitutional, administrative, crimin
al, and International Law that
focuses on the organization of the government, the 
relations between the state and its citizens,
the responsibilities of government officials, and the relations 
between sister states. It is
concerned with political matters, including the powers, rights,
 capacities, and duties of various
levels of government and government officials.
 Public law refers to an act that applies to the public at large,as
 opposed to a private law that
concerns private individual rights, duties, and liabilities.
Types of Public Law
Administrative Law – Law related to the relationship between
government departments, boards, agencies and people.
refers to the body of law which regulates bureaucratic managerial
procedures and defines the powers of administrative agencies.
These laws are enforced by the executive branch of a government
 rather than the judicial or legislative branches.
This body of law regulates international trade, manufacturing, 
pollution, taxation, and the like.
This is sometimes seen as a subcategory of civil law and
sometimes seen as public law as it deals with regulation and
public institutions.
Types of Public
Law
Criminal Law – Law that identifies crimes and
punishments as described in the IPC.

 Prohibits behaviour that causes harm to others, such

as murder, assault, and robbery.
 Crimes are against society/State.
 Criminal law, is the law of public rights and
duties; put another way, it is the law that
creates and controls wrongs committed
against the whole community.
 Criminal law violations are called crimes.
Specific examples include laws against
assault, burglary, robbery, murder, rape etc.
differences between civil
law and criminal law
 There are many differences between civil law and criminal
law, including concerns, party bringing the case, burdens
of proof, and goals.
 it is easy to confuse aspects of the civil law and criminal
law.
 Civil law is concerned with private rights and remedies,
that is, the duties that exist among and between persons,
organizations, and governments (other than, of course,
the duty not to commit crimes). Conversely, criminal law is
concerned with public rights and remedies, that is, with
wrongs committed against the public or whole
community.
Party bringing the case
 In a civil case, the party bringing the case (i.e., suing) is the plaintiff.
 The plaintiff is a party who claims to have been injured by the
wrongful conduct of the defendant.
 The plaintiff can be a person, a business or other artificial entity, or a
federal, state, or local government entity or agency.
 The case appears in court documents with the heading Plaintiff v.
Defendant

 In a criminal case, the party bringing the case (i.e., prosecuting), is

the government—local or state. In a state prosecution, the case is
normally captioned State v. Defendant;
Burdens of proof
 The burdens of proof are also different for civil law and
criminal law.
 A burden of proof is a party’s duty to prove a claim or defence
to a certain standard.
 In a typical civil case, the burden of proof that the plaintiff
must satisfy is “preponderance of the evidence.” There are
other ways of expressing this standard, including “more likely
than not,” “by greater than 50% weight,” and “by the greater
weight of the evidence.”
 If the plaintiff does not satisfy its burden during trial, the fact-
finder (i.e., the judge or jury, depending on the case) will
decide the case in favour of the defendant.
 
 In a criminal case, the burden of proof that the prosecution
must satisfy is “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
 The defendant is presumed to be not guilty unless the
prosecution proves the defendant’s guilt to the reasonable
doubt standard.
 While this standard is impossible to quantify in
mathematical terms (unlike in civil law), it does require the
absence of doubt in the minds of the judge.
 the judge should find the defendant guilty only if firmly
persuaded of the defendant’s guilt based on a fair and full
consideration of the evidence presented; there is no
reasonable doubt if this is the case.
 In a civil case, the plaintiff will satisfy the “preponderance
of the evidence” burden by placing just enough weight—
that is, evidence or proof—on an arm of the scale to tip
the scale slightly in the plaintiff’s favour; that is all the
weight needed to obtain a civil judgment against a
defendant.
 In a criminal case, however, the State will need to place
enough weight on the arm of the scale to make that arm
almost touch bottom—that is, enough to satisfy “beyond
a reasonable doubt.” Therefore, much more evidentiary
weight is needed to obtain a criminal conviction against a
defendant.
REMEDIES
 In civil law, the primary goal is to make an injured party whole, or
compensate him for the damage done to him. This is accomplished by
awarding either a legal remedy or equitable remedy.

 The main legal remedy is compensatory damages, which is money.

Most plaintiffs bring civil cases seeking money to compensate them for
the injury and damage caused by a defendant.

 In some states, punitive damages are available in rare cases to punish a

defendant (which is an occasional goal of civil law). But even in states
that allow punitive damages, they are usually limited to certain types of
cases or for conduct that involves fraud or malice, or is wilful and
wanton.
 There are occasions, however, where the legal remedy of
compensatory damages is considered inadequate under the law. In
such a case, a plaintiff may instead obtain an equitable remedy. 

 
 there are many equitable remedies, two of the more
common types are injunction and specific performance.
 An injunction is a court order requiring a party to do, or
not to do, an act.  
 Specific performance is a court order requiring a party to
perform a contractual duty. For example, a purchaser
who paid money for real property may sue the seller
seeking the equitable remedy of specific performance if
the seller refuses to deliver the deed. The reason is
because the purchaser wants the real property and deed,
not a refund of monies paid.
 Unlike civil law, the primary goal of criminal law is to punish the
wrongdoer, that is, the defendant.
 Depending obviously on the level and severity of the crime, this may be
accomplished by the death penalty, imprisonment, probation, or fines.
 Other goals of criminal law include retribution (i.e., to get-even or
payback), deterrence, and rehabilitation.
 These goals also may be accomplished by the same punishments; in
addition, the court may order a convicted defendant to
pay restitution (i.e., to pay the victim for the injury or damage caused
by the defendant) or place the defendant under a restraining order.
 A restraining order is a type of injunction; in criminal law, it ordinarily is
in the nature of precluding a defendant from coming within a certain
distance of or attempting to contact or communicate with the victim.
Types of Public Law
Constitutional Law – Body of law dealing with the distribution and
exercise of government powers
 As Grundnorm.
 Overrides all other laws.
 Limits the powers of government.
 Divides power between the Union and States.
 lays out the foundations of the state
 it postulates the supremacy of law in the functioning of the state –
the rule of law.
 it sets out the form of government – how its different branches work,
how they are elected or appointed, and the division of powers and
responsibilities between them. Traditionally, the basic elements of
government are the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
 what are the basic human rights, which must be protected for every
person, and what further civil and political rights citizens have
 it sets the fundamental borders to
what any government must and must not do
 In most jurisdictions, constitutional law is enshrined
in a written document, the Constitution, sometimes
together with amendments or other constitutional
laws.
 In some countries, however, such a supreme
entrenched written document does not exist for
historical and political reasons – the 
Constitution of the United Kingdom is an unwritten
one.
Divisions of Substantive Law

Private Law
EXAMPLES OF Private Law
 Civil law
 Law of contract
 Law of torts
 Law of trusts
 Law of agency
 Law of property
 Family law family-related issues and domestic relations
including marriage, civil unions, divorce, spousal abuse,
child custody and visitation, property, alimony, and child
support awards, child abuse issues, and adoption.
 Succession, estate, probate, and testamentary laws
Private Law
Law governing the relationships between
private individuals and between individuals
and organizations

 Also known as civil or case law

 Regulates conduct and compensates who have
been harmed by the wrongful actions of others
 Refers to torts (civil injuries), contracts, property
law, and family law
Types of Private Law
Tort Law – helps people to make claims for compensation
 (repayment) when someone hurts them or hurts their
property.
 Tort is breach of some duty independent of contract which
has caused damage to the plaintiff giving rise to civil 
cause of action and for which remedy is available.
It is the essence of tort is to give remedy to the person who
has suffered injury.

 Onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendants

actions caused the damage
Examples of Tort Law

 Assault: A threat constitutes assault.

 Battery: The criteria for battery is equivalent to that of
criminal force.
 False imprisonment
 Negligence
 Contributory negligence: "author of his own wrong“
 Defamation
 Trespass to land
 Nuisance
 Absolute liability
Types of Private Law
Contract Law – Branch of civil law that provides rules
regarding agreements between people and businesses
Body of law that governs oral and written agreements associated
with exchange of goods and services, money, and properties.
It includes topics such as the nature of contractual obligations,
limitation of actions, freedom of contract, privity of contract,
termination of contract, and covers also agency relationships,
commercial paper, and contracts of employment.

Family Law – Deals with various aspects of family life

including marriage, divorce, property, division upon
separation, child custody etc.
Types of Private Law
 Property law states the rights and obligations that a person
has when they buy, sell, or rent homes and land (called real
property or realty), and objects (called personal property).
 Intellectual property (IP) law involves the rights people have
over things they create, such as art, music, and literature.
This is called copyright. It also protects inventions that
people make, by a kind of law called patent. It also covers
the rights people have to the names of a company or a
distinctive mark or logo. This is called trademark.
Property Law – Governs ownership rights in property
including the buying and selling of real estate