Legal Tradition, Criminal Law, Fraud Deconstructed, Federal Offence, Difference between Criminal, Civil and Administrative Forfeiture

ASSIGNMENT

Table of Contents
Part I...........................................................................................................................................3
The legal Tradition.................................................................................................................3
Part II..........................................................................................................................................4
The nature of criminal law.....................................................................................................4
Fraud Deconstructed..............................................................................................................5
Federal offence.......................................................................................................................7
Difference between criminal, civil and administrative forfeiture and when it is best to use
each........................................................................................................................................9
Part III......................................................................................................................................10
Basic Accounting Theories..................................................................................................10
Case Preparation, Evidence & Report Writing....................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................13

Part I
The legal Tradition
Mala in Se
Mala, in Se is referred as a plural form of malum in se which are criminal acts that are wrong
as these acts breach moral, public or natural principals of the society due to their inherent evil
character (Simbeye, 2017). Thus, the crime which is evil or wrong by its nature or
characteristic is considered as Mala in se. For example acts such as murder, torture,
kidnapping, theft or crimes which are against humanity are considered as Mala in Se.
Mala Prohibita
It is a Latin phrase which is applied to represent the action that constitutes unlawful conducts
only by virtue of statute i.e. it is an unlawful act because it is stated in constitution. For
example, it is necessary for US drivers to have a valid driver license (Cassella, 2018).
Further, in case an individual drive without a valid license then the specified act is wrong
because it is prohibited by law, not due to inherent evil character of the conduct. The acts
under this section are usually less severe in comparison to mala in se.
Common Law
Common Law comprises prosecution by states towards wrongful acts which are deemed to be
serious as they contravene the sovereign’s peace. All crimes committed in the United States
are punished as well as prosecuted at the state level to a significant extent. Higher crimes
which comprise rape, murder, robbery, burglary have similar laws. However, penalties
relating to same vary from state to state. Murder, rape, larceny, burglary, arson are considered
as felonies and intimidation of jurors, wrong imprisonment, assault are considered as
misdemeanours.
Due Process
Due process of the statute in government is referred to as a structural guarantee that conduct
of law will not affect a citizen in an abusive manner. For instance, the English Magna Carta
of 1215 specifies that no individual should be made to forfeit his / her rights, property except

by the law of the land as applied by the court. The due process clause represents the
enactment of right theory relating to the Declaration of Independence. Another example with
which due process can be explained is due process clause of United States Constitution which
deals with the management of justice and preserves from arbitrary denial of liberty, property
by a statute outside the sanction of law.
Part II
The nature of criminal law
(a) Felony
Crimes which are specified felonies are dependent on their nature as well as on the maximum
punishment which can be imposed on them. In cases of felony which is also referred to as
high crime, punishable by death or imprisonment over one year. Examples of felonies are
robbery, arson, white collar crime, rape etc.
(b) Misdemeanour
A misdemeanour can be referred to as misconduct which is specified as a lesser crime. The
punishment of conduct under this crime is imprisonment up to one year or a fine. The acts
which are covered under specified heading are traffic violations, simple assault, public
intoxication etc.
(c) Petty Offense
It is referred to as a minor crime for which punishment is a small fine or imprisonment for a
short span of time. Further, in order to assess whether it is in nature of the petty offence or
not, nature of the crime is assessed along with the assessment that whether the same is triable
by jury at common law or not.
(d) Criminal Law
The above-specified law comprises a system of legal rules relating to the criminal offence as
well as punishment and penalties relating to the same. It is the foundation of the criminal
justice system. The main sources of criminal law are: English and American common law,
State criminal codes, Federal criminal codes etc.
(e) Civil Law