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Procedural and substantive law
In the UK the main body of law is substantive, meaning that it governs the behaviour of individuals and of the state. Procedural law, on the other hand, governs how the substantive law is applied. Procedural law sets out, for example, the procedure that an individual would follow when making a claim for compensation in a civil court, or what steps would be followed when arresting and bringing to trial an alleged criminal. The distinction between procedural law and substative law is, as might be imagined, not always clear-cut. The term adjectival law is often used as a fancy alternative to procedural law.
Public law
Public law is the body of law that governs the relationship between the individual and the state, as distinct from civil law (or `private' law) which governs the relationships between individuals. Public law is often taken to be divided into `criminal', `constitutional' and `administrative' branches, although these are not distinct in all jurisdictions.
Criminal law
The notion of a `crime' is very important in most legal systems, although crime and criminal law are rather difficult to define. In the UK, a crime is taken to be an offence against the state by an individual or group of individuals. This does not necessarily mean an offence directed against the state, but an offence for which restitution will be sought by the apparatus of state. For example, theft is an offence against the state because it challenges the right of the state to set out standards of reasonable behaviour. The victim of the theft need not bring a prosecution himself for the perpetrator to be brought to account: the state itself (through the police service, etc.) will do this. In the UK, criminal law also has the following characteristics, which do not usually apply to other branches of law.- The police will take an interest in people who breach criminal law. It is not usually the responsibility of the police service to prevent breaches of civil law.
- The CPS (see: CrownProsecutionService) will initiate legal proceedings against the perpetrators, without direct intervention of the victims.
- Punishments may well be more severe than for breaches of other laws. For example, the perpetrators may be imprisoned, or made to pay punitive financial penalties.
- Trial by jury is commonplace.
Administrative law
In the UK, administrative law regulates the rights that the apparatus of state has to intervene in the lives of citizens. For example, in A hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy, Arthur Dent's house is demolished on the orders of a Local Authority without adequate consultation. The papers describing the reason for the demolition were held in a locked filing cabinet in a basement room with no lighting and a sign on the door saying `Beware of the leopard'. This could be considered an offence against administrative law.
Constitutional law
Consitutional law sets out the rights and responsibilities of the principal organs of state. In the UK this may be taken to mean the government and its ministers, the monarch, the police and the armed services. These laws may be codified into a constitution, as is the case in the USA and Australia, or left as a matter of tradition and convention, as in the UK.
Civil or `private' law
Civil law regulates the behaviour of individuals to one another. In the UK civil law includes tort law (see: Tort), laws of contract, family law, and probate, among other things.
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