Name: 民法與刑法 (Civil vs Criminal Law)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:10:31.000Z
Duration: 6 min 47 s
Description: 【看影片學英語】數萬部 YouTube 影片，搭配英漢字典即點即查，輕鬆掌握單字發音與用法，長久累積看電影不必再看字幕。

基礎被動語態

In a civil case, the government is not involved.

Well, the government could be involved as
a party, but the government is not running

In a civil case, let's say that you get into
a car accident with someone, or someone builds

a building or a shed or something that's on
your property, that goes over the property

Those are situations that really don't involve
the government.

They really don't involve the rest of society.

The problem is between you and your neighbor,
or you and the person that you got into the

They're individual harms that were caused,
and there's an individual remedy.

That remedy, by the way, is usually money.

That's what the civil courts usually deal
in - money.

That's usually the remedy for any type of
civil violation.

There also is such thing as an injunction.

You could, for example - going back to our
shed example - you could get the court to

order that person not just to pay you for
whatever inconvenience was caused, but also

to actually move the shed and not cross your
property line with anything else - any other

So, that's the way civil works, and since
it's party to party, since it's all private,

and the government's not involved, the attorneys
are private, too.

If you want to have an attorney in a civil
case, hire one.

Because the government's not going to pay
for one for you.

Also, in a civil case, both parties are on
an equal, even playing field.

They both carry the same burden of proof.

And, by the way, that burden is typically
going to be a preponderance of the evidence.

Okay, oops, my hands aren't showing I guess,
but there you go.

That's' supposed to be the scales of justice,
all right?

So, basically, one side, if one side puts
on evidence that's just a little bit more

compelling than the other side, and the jury
feels that way, that side wins, if it's a

And speaking of which, it doesn't have to
be a jury trial, it could be a court trial,

too, meaning that the judge decides the case
instead of a jury.

But even if it is a jury trial, unlike criminal
cases where a unanimous verdict is virtually

always required, in a civil case, in many
states, a unanimous verdict is not required.

Now, in the federal system, they require a
unanimous verdict whether it's civil or criminal,

but in state systems, many states do not require
a unanimous jury verdict for a civil case.

All right, now let's move over to criminal
law.

In criminal law, then, the harm is supposed
to be a public harm.

When, let's say your neighbor - they have
a domestic dispute at your neighbor's house.

And you can hear screaming, and someone calling
for help, let's say or something, or glass

Someone involved in the actual incident might
think that, "well, it happened in my house

and between me and this other person, and
so that's a private matter."

It's not because our society has decided that
this type of behavior harms the whole community.

It makes - so you're sitting in your place,
and you're listening to all of this - it makes

It makes it worse for everyone in the neighborhood.

Same thing with drug dealing, same thing with
prostitution, we can go down the list.

But for now, let's just say that criminal
law is designed to provide a remedy for public

Public harm, public remedy, public attorneys.

So that's why you get a prosecutor, that's
why you get a public defender.

If you feel aggrieved, like I said before,
if someone built their shed on your land,

well too bad, you're going to go have to hire
an attorney, you're going to have to go file

But if someone punches you in the face and
the police are called, and it's determined

to be a battery, you don't have to hire an
attorney.

The government will provide a prosecutor,
at no expense to you, to prosecute that case.

Because they're trying to do you a favor?

Because the notion is that when that person
did that, it was a public harm, and there

should be a public remedy, and there's going
to be a public attorney representing you,

The state's interest really, but we'll get
into that more later, too.

Same thing on the other side, so the other
side - while the defendant has the right to

hire an attorney if he or she wants to, they
don't have to.

And if they can't afford an attorney, our
system, the US system, will provide an attorney

Remember the plaintiffs and defendants on
an equal playing field in the civil case?

Here, the defendant is presumed innocent.

There's a legal presumption that the defendant
isn't guilty of anything.

Whereas before, both parties carried the burden
of proof equally, here the state carries all

The defendant doesn't have to do anything.

That defendant can walk into the courtroom,
sit down and not say a word during the entire

trial, and win, and be found not guilty, if
the state doesn't carry its burden to prove

that person guilty of every offense charged,
every element of every offense charged.

Remember a few minutes ago, we talked about
that preponderance of the evidence burden,