Administration of Justice
The administration of justice has been defined as the maintenance of rights, suppression of wrongs and upholding justice, peace, equality within a political community by means of physical force of the State. The maintenance of law and justice of the State are necessary for peace, order, and stability. The administration of justice is the modern and civilized substitute for the primitive practices of private vengeance, and violent self-help. In ancient time, a man took revenge of the wrong committed either to him, by himself or with the help of his friends and tribes. In those days, every man was as if judge of his own cause and might was the sole measure of maintaining right.
In the course of time, private vengeance has been transmitted into administration of criminal justice while civil justice has taken the place of violent self-help. At the very outset, the administration of justice was an optional remedy. However, later on with gradual development of government power, the state suppressed the ancient and barbaric system with strong hand, laid down peremptory principles, and declared that all disputes must be submitted to the courts for settlement.
Administration of justice involves two parties:
(1) Plaintiff or plaintiffs claiming certain rights, and (2) defendant or defendants alleged to have committed certain wrongs.
Administration of justice can be divided into two parts: (1) Civil Administration of Justice, and (2) Criminal Administration of Justice.
Civil Administration of Justice:
Civil justice is concerned with the enforcement of rights in civil proceedings, where the plaintiff claims a right against a defendant, who has committed a wrong. The court secures this right for the plaintiff by compelling the defendant to perform a duty. Hence, administration of civil justice is primarily concerned with the plaintiff and remedy of his rights. Therefore, civil justice is remedial in nature.
Criminal Administration of Justice
Criminal Justice is concerned with the punishment of the wrong, legally, which is called crime. In a criminal proceeding, the complainant or the prosecutor on behalf of the complainant claims no right but alleges that the accused has committed a wrong on the complainant. Here the court does not require that the accused to perform a duty but punishes him/her if the offence is proved to have committed without any reasonable doubt. Criminal justice is therefore penal in nature.
N.B:
This writing is a concise version of a term paper which I submitted in my MSS in Criminology and Criminal Justice,DU. As for partial requirement of a course on Criminal Justice system in Bangladesh.
