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1. Money claimed by someone as compensation for harm done. DAMAGES

2. To send someone to prison or to a court. COMMIT
3. An adjective referring to a judge or to the law. JUDICIAL
4. Not guilty of a crime. INNOCENT
5. Any act which is not legal. OFFENCE
6. A person who has studied law and can act for people on legal business. LAWYER
7. A disagreement or argument between parties. DISPUTE
8. A specialist court outside the judicial system which examines special problems. TRIBUNAL
9. A set of arguments or facts put forward by one side in a legal proceeding. CASE
10. An official who presides over a court. JUDGE
11. To make an allegation in legal proceedings. PLEAD
12. Someone who is accused of a crime in a criminal case. DEFENDANT
13. A person who makes a claim against someone in a civil court. CLAIMANT
14. An agreement reached after an argument. SETTLEMENT
15. To hold someone legally so as to charge them with a crime. ARREST
16. A case which is being heard by a committee, tribunal or court of law. HEARING
17. To find that someone is guilty of a crime. CONVICT
18. Failure to carry out the terms of an agreement. BREACH
19. To bring someone to court to answer a criminal charge. PROSECUTE
20. To ask a high law court to change its decision or sentence. APPEAL
21. To say that someone has committed a crime. ACCUSE
22. Having the legal ability to force someone to do something. BINDING
23. An adjective referring to the rights and duties of private persons or organisations. CIVIL
24. The arguments used when fighting a case. DEFENCE
25. A legal agreement between two or more parties. CONTRACT
26. An adjective referring to crime. CRIMINAL
27. A group of 12 citizens who decide whether or not someone is guilty in a trial. JURY

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28. A written or spoken statement of facts which helps to prove or disprove something at a trial.
EVIDENCE
29. To order someone to pay money as a punishment. FINE
30. A court order telling someone to stop doing something, or not to do something. INJUNCTION

THE NATURE OF LAW

One of the most obvious and most central characteristics of all societies is that they must
possess some degree of order to permit the members to interact over a sustained period of time.
Different societies, however, have different forms of order. Some societies are highly regimented with
strictly enforced social rules, whereas others continue to function in what outsiders might consider a
very unstructured manner with apparently few strict rules being enforced.
In our society, law plays an important part in the creation and maintenance of social order. We
must be aware, however, that law as we know it is not the only means of creating order. Even in our
society, order is not solely dependent on law, but also involves questions of a more general moral and
political character. Our aim is to describe and explain the key institutional aspects of that particular form
of order that is legal order.
The most obvious way in which law contributes to the maintenance of social order is the way in
which it deals with disorder or conflict. Our interest is, therefore, particularly concerned with the
institutions and procedures, both civil and criminal, through which law operates to ensure a particular
form of social order by dealing with various conflicts when they arise.
Law is a formal mechanism of social control; there are, also, other aspects to law that are less
immediately apparent, but of no less importance, such as the inescapable political nature of law. The
best approach of law is the one that recognises that studying a legal system is not just about learning
legal rules, but is also about considering a social institution of fundamental importance.
CATEGORIES OF LAW

There are various ways of categorizing law, which initially tend to confuse the non-lawyer.
What follows will set out these categorizations in their usual dual form, while at the same time
trying to overcome the confusion inherent in such duality.

COMMON LAW AND CIVIL LAW

In this particular juxtaposition, these terms are used to distinguish two distinct legal systems
and approaches to law. The use of the term common law in this context refers to all those legal
systems that have adopted the historic English legal system. Foremost among these is, of course, the
United States, but many other Commonwealth and former Commonwealth countries retain a common
law system. The term civil law refers to those other jurisdictions that have adopted the European
continental system of law derived essentially from ancient Roman law, but owing much to the Germanic
tradition.
The usual distinction to be made between the two systems is that the common law system
tends to be case-centred and hence judge-centred, allowing scope for a discretionary, ad hoc, pragmatic
approach to the particular problems that appear before the courts, whereas the civil law system tends
to be a codified body of general abstract principles which control the exercise of judicial discretion. In
reality, both of these views are extremes, with the former overemphasising the extent to which the
common law judge can impose his discretion and the latter underestimating the extent to which
continental judges have the power to exercise judicial discretion. It is perhaps worth mentioning at this
point that the European Court of Justice (ECJ), established, in theory, on civil law principles, is in practice
increasingly recognising the benefits of establishing a body of case law.
European Court of Justice
Grant v South West Trains Ltd European Court of Justice Case C-249/96 - 17/2/98
R v Secretary of State for Defence ex parte Perkins (No 2) (1998)

COMMON LAW AND EQUITY

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In this particular juxtaposition, the terms refer to a particular division within the English legal
system. The common law has been romantically and inaccurately described as the law of the common
people of England. In fact, the common law emerged as the product of a particular struggle for political
power. Prior to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, there was no unitary, national legal system.
The emergence of the common law represents the imposition of such a unitary system under the
auspices and control of a centralised power in the form of a sovereign king; in that respect, it
represented the assertion and affirmation of that central sovereign power.
Traditionally, much play is made about the circuit of judges travelling round the country
establishing the Kings peace and, in so doing, selecting the best local customs and making them the
basis of the law of England in a piecemeal but totally altruistic procedure. The reality of this process was
that the judges were asserting the authority of the central State and its legal forms and institutions over
the disparate and fragmented State and legal forms of the earlier feudal period.
By the end of the 13th century, the central authority had established its precedence at least
partly through the establishment of the common law. Originally, courts had been no more than an
adjunct of the Kings Council, the Curia Regis, but gradually the common law courts began to take on a
distinct institutional existence in the form of the Courts of Exchequer, Common Pleas and Kings Bench.
With this institutional autonomy, however, there developed an institutional sclerosis, typified by a
reluctance to deal with matters that were not or could not be processed in the proper form of action.
Such a refusal to deal with substantive injustices because they did not fall within the particular
parameters of procedural and formal constraints by necessity led to injustice and the need to remedy
the perceived weaknesses in the common law system. The response was the development of equity.
Plaintiffs unable to gain access to the three common law courts might directly appeal to the
sovereign, and such pleas would be passed for consideration and decision to the Lord Chancellor, who
acted as the kings conscience. As the common law courts became more formalistic and more
inaccessible, pleas to the Chancellor correspondingly increased and eventually this resulted in the
emergence of a specific court constituted to deliver equitable or fair decisions in cases that the
common law courts declined to deal with. As had happened with the common law, the decisions of the
Courts of Equity established principles that were used to decide later cases, so it should not be thought
that the use of equity meant that judges had discretion to decide cases on the basis of their personal
idea of what was just in each case.
The division between the common law courts and the Courts of Equity continued until they
were eventually combined by the Judicature Acts (JdA) 187375. Prior to this legislation, it was essential
for a party to raise an action in the appropriate court for example, the courts of law would not
implement equitable principles; the Acts, however, provided that every court had the power and the
duty to decide cases in line with common law and equity, with the latter being paramount in the final
analysis.

COMMON LAW AND STATUTE LAW

This particular conjunction follows on from the immediately preceding section, in that the
common law here refers to the substantive law and procedural rules that have been created by the

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judiciary through the decisions in the cases they have heard. Statute law, on the other hand, refers to
law that has been created by parliament in the form of legislation.
Although there has been a significant increase in statute law in the 20th and 21st centuries, the
courts still have an important role to play in creating and operating law generally and in determining the
operation of legislation in particular.
PRIVATE LAW AND PUBLIC LAW

Public law is that area of constitutional, administrative, criminal, 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.
Private law is that part of a legal system which is part of the jus commune that involves
relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts or torts, as it is called in the common
law, and the law of obligations as it is called in civilian legal systems. It is to be distinguished from public
law, which deals with relationships between natural and artificial persons (i.e., individuals, business
entities, non-profit organizations) and the state including regulatory statutes, penal law and other law
that effects the public order.
In general terms, public law involves interrelations between the state and the general
population, whereas private law involves interactions between private citizens.
CIVIL LAW AND CRIMINAL LAW
Civil law is a form of private law and involves the relationships between individual citizens. It is
the legal mechanism through which individuals can assert claims against others and have those rights
adjudicated and enforced. The purpose of civil law is to settle disputes between individuals and to
provide remedies; it is not concerned with punishment as such.
Criminal law, on the other hand, is an aspect of public law and relates to conduct which the
State considers with disapproval and which it seeks to control and/or eradicate. Criminal law involves
the enforcement of particular forms of behaviour, and the State, as the representative of society, acts
positively to ensure compliance.
In criminal law, a prosecutor prosecutes a defendant (or the accused). In civil law, a claimant
sues (or brings a claim against) a defendant.
Differences between Criminal and Civil law

Crime categories
A crime is an illegal act which may result in prosecution and punishment by the state if the
accused (= the person or people charged with a crime) is / are convicted (= found guilty in a court of
law). Generally, in order to be convicted of a crime, the accused must be shown to have committed an
illegal (= unlawful) act with a criminal state of mind.
Crimes against the person: abduction; actual bodily harm; assault; battery; grievous bodily harm;
indecent assault; infanticide; manslaughter; murder; paedophilia (also called unlawful sex); racial abuse;
rape; wounding. Note that some crimes against the person, such as murder and paedophilia, are also
considered to be crimes against society.
Crimes against property: arson; being equipped to steal; blackmail; breaking and entering; burglary (if
the burglar is armed, this is called aggravated burglary); criminal damage; deception or fraud;
embezzlement; forgery; handling stolen goods; money laundering; piracy (specifically intellectual
property. Note that piracy can also refer to the attacking of ships at sea in order to commit a robbery);
possessing something with intent to damage or destroy property; robbery; theft.
Public order offences: committing a breach of the peace; drug dealing (the moving of drugs from one
country to another is called drug trafficking); misuse of drugs; obscenity; obstruction of the police;
possessing weapons; unlawful assembly.
Road traffic offences: careless or reckless driving; driving without a licence or insurance; drunk in
charge.
Sexual offences: bigamy; indecency; paedophilia; rape.
Political offences: breach of the Official Secrets Act; bribery; espionage; sedition; terrorism; treason.

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Offences against justice: aiding and abetting an offender; bribery (especially if the person being bribed
is, for example, a police officer or a juror); conspiracy; contempt of court; perjury; perverting the course
of justice.

Name the offence

1. ARSON
TV Newsreader: Police believe the fire was started deliberately at around 2 o'clock this morning when
burning paper was pushed through the letterbox. They are appealing for witnesses to the event.
2. MURDER (OR ATTEMPTED MURDER, IF THE VICTIM SURVIVED)
Crown Prosecutor: Tell us in your own words exactly what happened.
Witness: We were in the bar when a man walked up to the victim, pointed a gun at his head and
said 'You're a dead man.' Then he pulled the trigger three times.
3. CARELESS OR RECKLESS DRIVING (SPECIFICALLY, SPEEDING)
Police constable: You were going in excess of 60, and this is a 30 zone.
Man in car: I think you're mistaken, constable. I was well within the speed limit.
4. BREAKING AND ENTERING / BURGLARY / THEFT (NOT ROBBERY, AS THE CRIME TOOK PLACE IN
A PRIVATE RESIDENCE)
Woman: When I got home, I discovered that my back door had been broken open.
Police officer: Had anything been stolen?
Woman: Yes, my new laptop, 200 in cash and my pet parrot.
5. BRIBERY
Police officer: I'm sorry sir, but I have to report your actions to the proper authorities.
Man: Look, officer, here's 50. Let's just pretend this didn't happen, eh?
6. OBSCENITY
Extract from a newspaper article: The two men were arrested and detained after police checks revealed
that they had been distributing pornographic material over the Internet.
7. AIDING AND ABETTING AN OFFENDER

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Interviewing detective: All right, Dagsy. We know you didn't do the Cornmarket Street bank job yourself,
but we know that you were involved somehow.
Police suspect: I was just driving the car Mr Regan, honest. And I didn't know what the others
were up to until they came back with bags of cash.
8. TERRORISM /WOUNDING
TV newsreader: The car bomb went off in a busy marketplace, injuring several shoppers.
9. (VIDEO) PIRACY
Radio newsreader: The police raided a house in New Street this morning and recovered 250 illegal
copies of the latest Harry Potter film, along with professional film copying equipment.
10. ESPIONAGE (IF THE COUNTRY IS AT WAR, THE MINISTER MIGHT ALSO BE ACCUSED OF
TREASON)
Man reading newspaper: I don't believe it. The Foreign Minister has been caught giving government
secrets to another country!
11. SEDITION (HE MIGHT ALSO BE COMMITTING A BREACH OF THE PEACE AT AN UNLAWFUL
ASSEMBLY, AND HIS ADDRESS TO THE CROWD MIGHT RESULT IN VANDALISM AND
HOOLIGANISM)
Political agitator: Now is the time to rise up and overthrow the running dogs that call themselves our
government. Death to the Prime Minister and his cronies! Death to the Royal Family! Death to the
system that bleeds us dry and abandons us!
Unwashed anarchist hordes: Hooray!
12. FORGERY (THE BANK NOTE THE CUSTOMER IS TRYING TO USE HAS BEEN FORGED)
Shop assistant: I can't accept this 20 note, madam. It's a fake.
Customer: What? You mean it's counterfeit?
Shop assistant: I'm afraid so. Do you have any other means of payment?

13. MANSLAUGHTER (SPECIFICALLY CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER)

Extract from a newspaper article: The investigation into the rail accident confirmed that it occurred
because the rail company had failed to maintain the tracks properly over a five-year period. Eight people
died when the train left the tracks and hit an embankment.
14. DECEPTION OR FRAUD (THE MAN WHO WENT TO THE WOMAN'S HOUSE PRETENDED TO BE
SOMEONE HE WASN'T: HE DECEIVED HER)/ THEFT
Police officer: Take your time and tell me what happened, dear.

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Pensioner: The man who came to my door said he had come to read the electric meter, so I let
him in. I went to the kitchen to make him a cup of tea. When I returned he had gone, and so had my
television.
15. ABDUCTION (WE CAN ALSO SAY KIDNAPPING)
TV newsreader: A journalist working in the city disappeared this morning. Police later received a note
from a militant faction claiming that they had taken him and were holding him hostage.
16. CRIMINAL DAMAGE
Woman: The graffiti around here is getting really bad. Last week somebody wrote 'Chelsea are rubbish'
on our garden wall.
Man: That's not good. It should say 'Chelsea are complete rubbish'.
17. BLACKMAIL
Man: Look at this note, Cheri. It arrived in the post today. It says 'Leave 10,000 in cash in the bin by the
bus stop, or I'll tell everyone your dirty secret'.
Woman: Don't worry about it, Tony. It's probably another little joke from him next door.
18. PERJURY (THE DEFENDANT IS PERJURING HIMSELF IN COURT)
Prosecuting lawyer: Tell us again what happened on the night of the incident, Mr Williams. And let me
remind you that you are still under oath.
Defendant: Like I told you, I was at home asleep, so I have no idea what happened.
Prosecuting lawyer: Don't lie, Mr Williams. We have video evidence that you were in the nightclub until
3am. And you were seen by several witnesses.

19. CONTEMPT OF COURT

Defendant: I don't recognise this court. This trial shouldn't be taking place.
Judge: Sit down, Mr Dowling. You are out of order.
Defendant: Oh shut up, you silly old woman. Go back home and do some washing up or something.
20. EMBEZZLEMENT
Accountant: We've audited these accounts very carefully, and they just don't add up.
Office manager: What exactly are you saying?

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Accountant: I'm saying that someone in your office has been secretly helping themselves to company
money.
21. BREACH OF THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT (= AN ACT OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT WHICH
GOVERNS THE PUBLICATION OF SECRET INFORMATION RELATING TO THE STATE)
TV presenter: Jimmy Bond, a former government intelligence agent, has just published a book about the
Intelligence Service called 'Lifting the Lid'. In it, he gives us a revealing insight into the life of a secret
agent. The government has strongly condemned the book, claiming it contains classified information
that should not be in the public domain.
22. (PUBLIC) INDECENCY (SPECIFICALLY INDECENT EXPOSURE)
Magistrate: Constable, could you explain what happened?
Police constable: I was proceeding down Newland Street at approximately 8 o'clock last night when I
heard a lot of shouting coming from The Newlands Inn public house. On entering, I saw the accused in a
state of undress and dancing on a table.
Magistrate: You mean he was naked?
Police constable: Yes. As the day he was born.
23. PERVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICE
Radio newsreader: The judge in the trial of notorious gangster Joe 'Pinko' Pallino adjourned the court
today after it was revealed that several members of the jury had been offered bribes and other
incentives to pass a verdict of 'not guilty' on Mr Pallino.
24. MONEY LAUNDERING
TV presenter: A bank account was opened in a false name in the Bahamas, and the cash deposited
there. The funds were then sent by telegraphic transfer to another account in Switzerland, and the
Bahamas account was closed. It was at this stage that the Metropolitan Police called in Interpol.
1. An arsonist- sets fire to property illegally.
2. An assassin -murders (kills) for political reasons or a reward.
3. A deserter- is a soldier who runs away from the army.- who leaves the armed forces without
permission
4. A embezzler- steals from his own company
5. A forger- makes counterfeit money or signature. Makes false money or documents
6. A fraud or con man- pretends or claims to be what he is not
7. A hooligan - causes damage or disturbance in public place.
8. A mugger - attacks and robs people, often in the street. (especially in public places)
9. A poacher- hunts illegally on somebody elses land
10. A racketeer - a person who makes money through illegal activities. Makes money by dishnoest
business methods e.g. by selling worthless goods
11. A smuggler- brings goods into a country illegally (From another illegally) without paying tax.

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12. A terrorist- uses violence for political reasons. Tries to enforce his political demands by carrying
out or threatening acts of violence.
Law may be categorised in a number of ways, although the various categories are not mutually
exclusive.
Common law and civil law relate to distinct legal systems. The English legal system is a common law one
as opposed to continental systems, which are based on civil law.
Common law and equity distinguish the two historical sources and systems of English law. Common law
emerged in the process of establishing a single legal system throughout the country. Equity was
developed later to soften the formal rigour of the common law. The two systems are now united, but in
the final analysis, equity should prevail.
Common law and statute relate to the source of law. Common law is judge made; statute law is
produced by parliament.
Private law and public law relate to whom the law is addressed. Private law relates to individual
citizens, whereas public law relates to institutions of government.
Civil law and criminal law distinguish between law, the purpose of which is to facilitate the interaction
of individuals and law that is aimed at enforcing particular standards of behaviour.