Private disputes between people or organisations are categorised under civil cases while an action considered harmful to society i.e. offenses conducted against the law of the state comes under a criminal case. If a citizen including a corporation sues another citizen for not fulfilling the duties agreed upon in the contract between them then this concludes to being a civil law case. While cases like that of murder, robbery, rapes, terrorism, etc any act against the state and its people come under criminal law.
The cases are governed under totally different laws but certain times a crossover between civil law cases and criminal law cases happens in reality. Thus it is vital to know the differences and similarities between both. When a person or an entity like a corporation or the government called the plaintiff claims that another party or entity called the defendant has failed to carry out a legal due owed to the plaintiff then a civil case gets registered.
Both of them can be referred to as parties or litigants. During the process of the civil case the plaintiff might ask the court to tell the defendant to fulfill the duty, and/ or pay for the harm done. Civil law cases are brought in both state and federal courts.
In a criminal case the responsibility of the case does not rest with the victim. Like in a kidnapping case, the government will prosecute the kidnapper and the victim will not be a party to the action. Some criminal cases do not have specific victims. For instance the drunk driving case where the state governments arrest and prosecute people who are accused of violating laws against driving while intoxicated as the society can suffer due to their deeds.
