As stated by the criminal law, offenses against the social order become crimes. In the common law jurisdictions, there is a legal fiction that crimes spoil the peace of the sovereign. As agents of the sovereign, government officials are responsible for the prosecution of the criminals. Therefore, a criminal law –“plaintiff” is the sovereign, that in practical terms converts to the people or the monarch.

Main Objective of the Criminal law is punishment and deterrence, whereas the objective of the civil law is individual compensation. Criminal Offenses comprise two different elements; the requisite state of mind with which the act is performed (the mens rea, guilty mind) and physical act. Such as, in case of murder ‘actus reus is the illegal killing of an individual, whereas the ‘mens rea is hatred aforethought that means the intentional killing or produce dire injury. Continue reading →