Many people wonder what the difference is between criminal and civil law. They might even think that there is a complicated variation between the two, one that can only be deciphered by an expert lawyer.

This really is not the case. All you need remember is that if it is a crime - it is criminal - and all other branches of law come under the heading of civil law. This means that everything from contract law to intellectual property law comes under this heading. The main thing that you will notice about this difference is that there are different courts to deal with each of these types of law.

For civil law, in England, the lowest court is the County Court and cases are usually heard through district judges. Then you have the High Court as the next court in the hierarchy, with the Court of Appeal and newly named Supreme Court above that.

Criminal law uses Magistrates' courts at the lowest level. When crimes become even more serious they are known as indictable offences and are heard through crown courts. There is also a criminal division of the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

So, basically, unless a statute (Act of Parliament) expressly states that a certain breach of law is to be treated as a crime, the law will always be civil in nature.