Civil and Criminal Courts

There are distinct legal pathways for resolving differing cases - whether civil or criminal.

Criminal cases are brought on behalf of the state against a citizen for breaking a law.

Civil cases relate to disputes between individuals or organisations, and are resolved by the award of damages (payable to one party by the other).

Vast majority of cases do not involve a jury (a group of 12 regular citizens who rule guilty or not guilty on a matter but do NOT impose a sentence, in criminal law). The main exceptions to this are libel and slander trials - this basically means a false, defamatory, written statement or pictorial representation.

Most civil cases are dealt with by County Courts, including small claims cases of up to £5000. If the case is more serious, it is forwarded to the High Court.

Civil courts deal with personal injury claims, breaches of contract, and other matters that arise between individuals or companies that do not involve a breach of law - that would be a criminal case and not a civil case. 

The words dispute and offence are important here to distinguish between civil and criminal courts, respectively.

The trial is held in a Magistrates' Court for minor cases, or the Crown Court for more serious offences. The CPS - Crown Prosecution service - brings criminal cases.

The CPS's role is to determine whether or not charges should be imposed, and which. They prosecute cases on behalf of the state.

Further courts include the Court of Appeal, and, eventually, to the UK Supreme Court (although it is very rare for this to happen). 

With civil cases, the claimant (that's the person making the claim/seeking damages/the 'victim' if you like) has to provide proof and the judge decides the outcome 'on the basis of probability' - i.e. the likelihood of something. If the judge decides that the claim is genuine, they make an award in the claimant's favour - i.e. the claimant is paid damages by the other party. 

By contrast, with a criminal case, the charges must be proven 'beyond reasonable doubt' which means that the court must be absolutely sure of the guilt of the accused to be able to return a guilty verdict. Another word for the accused is the defendant.