Sanctions and penalties enforced upon law-breakers are an age-old phenomenon. The division of civil and criminal laws from a legal standpoint began in practice relatively late in the territory now known as Slovakia. Terminology is first used in public administration beginning to distinguish clearly between these two spheres of legislation as late the 13th century. In previous times, the difference was not so obvious and in some norms from the 9th to 12th centuries, completely indiscernible.