Undergraduate Laws
Pre-Course Exercises: Exercise 3
In exercise 2 we looked at social and legal rules and, in the context of legal rules we considered both the civil and criminal law. You will have seen that certain forms of behaviour might amount to a breach of both social and legal rules although of course, this will not always be the case. You will also have seen that a breach of the civil law might also amount to a criminal offence although, again, not necessarily.
When you study law you will study various ‘subjects’ such as criminal law, the law of contract, the law of tort and family law: contract, tort and family law all being civil law subjects with any disputes being adjudicated in the civil courts. You will have seen from exercise 2 that these subjects are not necessarily mutually exclusive i.e. a breach of the civil law might also amount to a breach of the criminal law. So a person who breaks the law might be sued in the civil court by an individual but might also be prosecuted by the state and tried in a criminal court.
Please read the following
Fred hailed a taxi and when it stopped he asked the driver to take him to his auntie's house. The taxi driver agreed. Fred gave the taxi driver his auntie's address and settled back to enjoy the ride through central London.
Unfortunately the taxi driver was not a very good driver and drove too fast. He crashed the taxi into a shop window breaking the glass. Fred was thrown forward and suffered a broken wrist and cuts and bruises.
The taxi driver was unhurt but told Fred that he could not take him any further because of the damage to the taxi. However, he said Fred must pay him half the fare as they were halfway to Fred's auntie's house.
Fred refused to pay him so the taxi driver grabbed Fred and removed Fred's wallet from his pocket. He then took what he worked out to be the correct half-fare for the journey and gave Fred back his wallet.
What civil law rules do you think the taxi driver has broken?
What criminal law rules do you think the taxi driver has broken?
How is the driver likely to be dealt with:-
- under the civil law;
- under the criminal law?