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Different Branches of the Legal System deals with civil law cases. Following table signifies

In addition to criminal law, the legal system also the differences between criminal and civil law.
Criminal Law Civil Law

Deals with conduct or acts that the law defines as Deals with any harm or injury to rights of individuals.
offences. For example; theft, harassing a woman to For example; disputes relating to sale of land pur-
bring more dowry, murder. chase of goods, rent matters, divorce cases.

It usually begins with the lodging of a First A petition has to be filed before the relevant court by
Information Report (FIR) with the police who investi- the affected party only. In a rent matter, either the
gate the crime after which a case is filed in the court. landlord or tenant can file a case.
If found guilty, the accused can be sent to jail and The court gives the specific relief asked for. For
also fined. instance, in a case between a landlord and a tenant,
the court can order the flat to be vacated and pend-
ing rent to be paid.

THE SUPREME COURT Term
The Supreme Court is the highest authority of The judges of the Supreme Court hold office till
law in our country. It is located in New Delhi. the age of 65 years. Once appointed, the judges
The Supreme Court has one Chief Justice and cannot be removed easily. If guilty, a judge can
twenty-five other judges. The president in consul- be removed by a process called impeachment.
tation with the Chief Justice appoints the judges The impeachment motion has to be passed in
of the Supreme Court. the parliament.
So far, no judge has been removed from office.
In 1991, an impeachment motion was set against
Justice Ramaswamy, the Chief Justice of the
Punjab High Court for misappropriating funds.
However, the majority of the total strength of the
House did not pass the motion.
Salary

The Chief Justice and judges receive high sala-
ries. Besides this, they are given many benefits
and allowances. The objective behind this is to
The Supreme Court of India
prevent any corruption.
Qualifications
Powers and Functions
To be appointed a judge by the Supreme Court a
The Supreme Court has wide jurisdictional
person has to be:
powers. These can be divided into:
(a) Citizen of India
1. Original
(b) The candidate should have served as an
2. Appellate
advocate for least 10 years or as a judge for
3. Advisory.
5 years in the High Court.
It is also a Court of Record.
(c) The person should be a distinguished jurist
in the eyes of the President.

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