Standing

[RealSkinny]

n2q0 Wrote:Well, this was my understanding, which may very well be totally incorrect.

Not at all. You raise a very important distinction for us.

n2q0 Wrote:Civil:
"...a cause of action is based upon the injury suffered by a plaintiff..."


Criminal:
"(1) the fact of the injury or loss or harm"
If I murder someone, the "State" has standing as the murdered person has been harmed.

Notice that in a civil action, Standing requires the injured party to be the plaintiff, but in a Criminal action, this requirement no longer exists. The State will bring the charges, despite the fact that they are not the victim. There's no way this would ever happen in a civil case. If the State tried to sue someone on your behalf, they would be dismissed for lack of Standing. In Criminal Law, however, the corpus delicti is still satisfied.

Clearly Corpus Delicti and Standing are distinct. The State satisfies Corpus Delicti in criminal law, but would never satisfy Standing in a civil case.