What is the difference between criminal and civil cases?

Answer 1

A civil case is between two people or organizations; a copyright example would be a photographer suing a publisher in civil court for using one of his images in a book without permission.

A criminal case is between an infringer and the government; this only happens in extreme, extreme infringement cases, such as large-scale piracy. A slight but useful oversimplification of the issue would be to say that a criminal case arises when the infringement is so significant that it impacts the economy.

Answer 2

The difference is in how the state legislature codifies the crime as being one or the other.

Violations of criminal law can result in a monetary fine and/or jail or prison time depending on the severity of the offense.

Civil crime violations are punishable only by fines or judgments or liens against you. No jail time is associated with civil offenses.

Answer 3

The test to determine civil versus criminal is stated under the definition of Corpus Delicti and its test. The third prong of this test is: "a law, either common or statutory, that prevents the conduct" - although this is not the only test, you must then examine the law to see if it is classified as a crime; its existence in the penal code (normally stating that it is a crime, and holds some type of imprisonment). Some laws define actions as civil and not criminal; but in either case a civil case for the action (loss) can be brought against the actor.

Simply put, the difference really lies at the point of punishment; you cannot be jailed for a civil offense, but you can be jailed for a crime.

Answer 4

In criminal cases, you can go to jail if convicted of some kind of crime. In civil cases, you will have a pay a person money.