Note 87 — Chapter IV · THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

Austin’s theory of the distinction is somewhat different from Blackstone’s, for he makes the distinction between public and private wrongs, and therefore between criminal and civil wrongs, turn not on the public or private nature of the right violated, but solely on the public or private nature of the proceeding taken in respect of its violation. “Where the wrong,” he says (p. 502), “is a civil injury, the sanction is enforced at the discretion of the party whose right has been violated. Where the wrong is a crime, the sanction is enforced at the discretion of the sovereign.” This theory, however, is exposed to the same objections as those which may be made to Blackstone’s, and it need not be separately considered.