U.S. Civil And Criminal Law And The Mosaic Law Of The Bible

United States Civil and Criminal Law and Mosaic Law of the Bible
Name
Institution
Introduction
Law is a system of regulations that are formed and put into effect through governmental institutions or social institutions so that behavior can be controlled. Law is important because it acts as a guideline for accepted demeanor and therefore aid in the prevention of conflicts between individuals in a country accordingly makes the country a safe and a better place. Law helps in defending individuals from evil as those who commit an offense are separated from the others by being arrested. Laws help to resolve disputes in a country and finally law aids in encouraging people of a particular country to do the right thing.
In the United States, there exist two laws that include civil and criminal. The two laws have been created with the aim of preventing and punishing wrong doings in the country. Criminal law in the United States deals with the behavior that can be interpreted to be a crime against the public or the state for example murder theft and rape. Civil law on the hand deals with the behaviors that establish damage to an individual or private party for instance damage of property.
The United States Criminal Law
The criminal law of the United States is the body of law that deals with crime and its responsibility are shared between institution units known as states in the country and the national government of the United States. In the criminal law of the United States, there exists a principle of legality that states that one can only be punished for committing an act termed to be immoral if the act had previously been declared a crime (Novkov, 2015). The United States criminal law uses a legal system known as adversary system that entails two advocates representing the case of their parties before a fair person or a group of individuals, mainly a jury or a judge, who ascertain the truth and suitably pass judgment.
The objectives of the United States criminal law include retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, incapacitation, and restoration. Retribution entails the punishment of the person who has committed and offense. Deterrence involves imposing a penalty against a criminal so that the society can refrain from committing crimes. Incapacitation is designed to keep the offenders away so that the society can be protected from their bad behavior. Rehabilitation aims at transforming the offender so that they stop committing further offense and finally restoration aims at compensating the victims of the wrongdoings.
Historical Development and Basis of United States Criminal Law
The establishment of criminal laws in the United States was compelled by the need to solve the problems the self- made methods of avenging an offense had created. Before the criminal laws were established, it was the responsibility of the victims of wrongdoings or their family members to seek redress as the society and the government were not involved. However, after a while, a system of law was established, and those involved in crime began to be punished and the punishment for each crime differed. People in the United States used religion as a foundation of an understanding crime.
As time passed by reformers made the criminal law system more efficient. It was developed with the use of established practices and legal codes. After this development, one of the changes that could be observed in the criminal law was that the responsibility of the person being accused of committing a crime was now being considered in that the individual could be asked if he was responsible for the offense and serious investigations carried out before being declared guilty of the offense. The criminal law continues to be more efficient in the United States, and it has made the country a safer and better place as the law aids in preventing the occurrence of immoral acts.
United States Civil Law
The Civil law of United States involves an individual or a corporation filing a lawsuit and therefore becoming the complainant. For example, an individual may file a lawsuit because another individual damaged his or her property. The civil law uses an inquisitorial law where the court or the judges are more involved in the investigation and determination of the facts of the case (Binder, 2013). The civil law in the United States depends more on written argument compared to oral argument. Civil law in the country has a key governing principle known as stare decisis, which means that the result of a legal proceeding relies on the results of the previous similar legal proceedings.
The civil law of United States is categorized into law of contract, secondly law of property, law of tort, and finally law of family. Contract law is concerned with agreements between two or more parties, and each party is expected to support their part of the agreement (Del, 2008). For example, two individuals may enter into an agreement for the lease of property. The owner of the property has the right of receiving money from the other individual, and the lessee has the right to use the property. If one of the parties violates an item of the contract, then he or she has committed a civil crime. Tort law deals with civil wrongdoing and injury. A tort is a civil wrong done by an individual to another and ends up causing injury or damage to property.
There are three categories of torts, which include: strict liability which is posed when someone cause injury to another person, intentional tort and finally negligence. Property laws cover the real and personal property. Personal property may include animals, and real property may entail anything found below the surface of the earth or land. Finally, family law is concerned about marriage, divorce, child support, adoption, and child custody. Family law is unique, as it does not necessarily entail someone who has committed a civil wrong. The Civil law of United States has a significant characteristic of codification, which entails arranging laws in a systematic manner.
Civil law was based on the Roman law, and the Roman law had managed to earn the interests of so many countries as they considered it an effective law because of its characteristics. The United States was one of the countries that showed interest in the Roman law. ...