ABSTRACT
The purpose of civil law is to settle disputes between individuals and to provide remedies. Civil law is a form of private law and involves the relationships between individual citizens. 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. In civil law, a claimant sues a defendant. The criminal law of theft, for example, may be seen as simply the cutting edge of the wider and more fundamental rights established by general property law. In any case, there remains the fact that civil and criminal law each has its own distinct legal system. 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.
