0 the part of the legal system that relates to punishing people who break the law
1 the part of the legal system which relates to punishing people who have committed a criminal act:
By the criminal law a man could not be punished for the acts of another.
Here his chief work was the codification of the criminal law, which he carried out with great ability, and by which he wrote his name on the history of the empire.
In no two countries is the criminal law the same, and an act which is perfectly harmless when committed in one part of Europe, is considered in another as a contravention of the law.
We may pause a moment to glance at the provisions made by the criminal law for protecting women.
Your proposition is true only to the extent that the criminal law is invoked to protect property rights—and not life and liberty.
In contrast to tax law, the criminal law is there to prescribe modes of conduct that are not permissible.
That issue is whether and why the criminal law is different from other legal techniques to influence behavior.
Another strand of argument supports this analysis: one concerning the censuring role of the criminal law.
