The Criminal-Civil Distinction and the Utility of Desert

Authors

Paul H. Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1996

Abstract

The communist Chinese have distinct criminal and civil systems, as do the democratic Swiss, and the monarchist Saudis.1 The criminal-civil distinction also is a basic organizing device for Islamic Pakistan, Catholic Ireland, Hindu India, and the atheistic former Soviet Union, industrialized Germany, rural Papua New Guinea, the tribal Bedouins, wealthy Singapore, impoverished Somalia, developing Thailand, newly organized Ukraine, and the ancient Romans. Apparently every society sufficiently developed to have a formal legal system usesthe criminal-civil distinction as an organizing principle. Why? Why has every society felt it necessary to create a system to impose criminal liability distinct from civil liability?

Keywords

civil liability, criminal liability, desert, punishment theory

Publication Title

Boston University Law Review

Publication Citation

76 B. U. L. Rev. 201 (1996)

Repository Citation

Robinson, Paul H., "The Criminal-Civil Distinction and the Utility of Desert" (1996). All Faculty Scholarship. 607.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/607