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Criminal Law

    Criminal Law Editor's Picks

    • What Is a Criminal Law?

      Criminal law refers to a type of law that not only dictates a standard of expected behavior but also imposes sanctions or punishments if an individual fails to comply with that law. Criminal law is enforced by agents of the government. more »

    • What Are the Duties of a Defense Attorney?

      A defense attorney is a defendant's champion, advocate and adviser. It is the right and privilege of every defendant to have legal counsel, whether or not he can afford it. This is predicated on the fact that in the eyes of the American judicial system, a defendant is innocent until proven guilty; therefore, an innocent man or woman... more »

    • Elder Money Transfer Shelter Laws

      Most elders want to use the assets they have accumulated over the course of their lives for a happy retirement, then leave an inheritance to their family. Long-term health-care costs can swiftly eat up the assets they have earmarked for the satisfaction of these goals, and qualifying for Medicaid is often the only way to pay for... more »

    • About Forensic Accounting Education

      History has been saturated with financial scandals such as the Enron collapse in 2001. AOL, Tyco, and Qwest have also been involved in financial scandals over the years. Questionable accounting practices are almost always the problem. The field of forensic accounting has become part of the front line of defense in assuring that... more »

    • How Does a Paralegal Spend a Workday?

      Since paralegals are the "right arms" of the lawyers they assist, they have a high degree of responsibility in their daily jobs. They are more highly trained than secretaries or clerical workers, but they do not have the same duties or licensing requirements as a certified attorney. more »

    Criminal Law Articles

    Wikipedia

    Criminal law

    The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. Criminal punishment, depending on the offense and jurisdiction, may include execution, loss of liberty, government supervision (parole or probation), or fines. There are some archetypal crimes, like murder, but the acts that are forbidden are not wholly consistent between different criminal codes, and even within a particular code lines may be blurred as civil infractions may give rise also to criminal consequences. Criminal law typically is enforced by the government, unlike the civil law, which may be enforced by private parties.

    History
    The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between civil and criminal law. The first written codes of law were produced by the Sumerians. Around 2100-2050 BC Ur-Nammu, the Neo-Sumerian king of Ur, enacted the oldest written legal code whose text has been discovered: the Code of Ur-NammuKramer, Samuel Noah. (1971) The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, p.4, University of Chicago ISBN 0-226-45238-7 although an earlier code of Urukagina of Lagash is also known to have existed. Another important early code was the Code Hammurabi, which formed the core of Babylonian law. These early legal codes did not separate penal and civil laws.

    The similarly significant Commentaries of Gaius on the Twelve Tables also conflated the civil and criminal aspects, treating theft or furtum as a tort. Assault and violent robbery were analogized to trespass as to property. Breach of such laws created an obligation of law or vinculum juris discharged by payment of monetary compensation or damages.

    The first signs of the modern distinction between crimes and civil matters emerged during the Norman Invasion of England.see, Pennington, Kenneth (1993) The Prince and the read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal+law

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