Rights and duties
| Criteria | Civil law | Criminal law | Administrative law |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main question | Who must repair a damage or honor a contract? | Was an offense committed? | Did a government agency comply with the law? |
| Who is opposing whom? | Peer-to-Peer Individual ↔ Professional Business to Business | The company (represented by the public prosecutor) v. the alleged perpetrator of the offense, together with the victim | Individual or business ↔ Government agency |
| Objective | To repair a harm or enforce a right | Punish an offense and protect society | Review the legality of administrative decisions |
| Examples | Neighbor dispute, construction work, purchase, insurance, lease, contract | Theft, scam, violence, harassment, threats, damage | Permit refusal, CAF decision, taxes, city hall, prefecture |
| Who can be seized? | Conciliator, mediator, commissioner of justice, lawyer, judicial court | Police, gendarmerie, public prosecutor, criminal court judge | Administration, administrative appeal, Defender of Rights, administrative court |
| Root cause identified | Compensation, performance of a contract, cessation of a nuisance | Conviction of the perpetrator and, where applicable, compensation for the victim | Annulment or modification of a decision, injunction, potential compensation |
| Possible sanctions | Damages, specific performance, termination of a contract | Fine, imprisonment, community service, other penalties | Annulment of a decision, obligation for the administration to re-examine a case, compensation |
| Concrete example | A tradesman does poor work. | A craftsman collects a deposit and then deliberately disappears. | The city hall is illegally refusing a building permit. |
| Key Texts | Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure | Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure | Code of Administrative Justice and Code of Relations Between the Public and the Administration |