ABSTRACT
Criminal law is concerned with conduct that the State considers should be punished, whereas civil law is concerned with private rights. The Criminal Law Act 1967 abolished the distinction between felonies and misdemeanours, parties may be charged as principals. Professor Glanville Williams defines actus Reus as the conduct that is forbidden by the rule of the criminal law on the assumption that any necessary mens rea is found to exist the external elements of the offence, including the negative of defences. In some cases, however, a defence on balance of probabilities must be proved, that is the civil burden of proof, e.g. insanity, diminished responsibility and under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916. The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 gives the Home Secretary authority to impose control orders on any person suspected of involvement in terrorism. The Terrorism Act 2000 completely reformed the laws for the prevention of terrorism incorporating elements of preventing legislation.
