Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim. For instance, if a car crash victim claims damages against the driver for loss or injury sustained in an accident, this will be a civil law case. Civil law courts provide a forum for deciding disputes involving torts (such as accidents, negligence, and libel), contract disputes, the probate of wills, trusts, property disputes, administrative law, commercial law, and any other private matters that involve private parties or organizations including government departments. The objectives of civil law are different from other types of law. In civil law there is the attempt to right a wrong, honor an agreement, or settle a dispute. If there is a victim, they get compensation, and the person who is the cause of the wrong pays, this being a civilized form of, or legal alternative to, revenge.
Big Creek (Big Creek Flats in the 1870s; Manzanita Park in 1902; until 1926, Cascada) is a small unincorporated town in Fresno County, California located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the north bank of Big Creek. It lies at an elevation of 4984 feet (1519 m). Its population is 258. The ZIP Code is 93605, and the community is inside area code 559. Big Creek was built at the site of the first dam and power plant of Southern California Edison's Big Creek hydroelectric project, one of the most extensive in the world. Other than the private helipad owned by Southern California Edison, the only way in or out of the town is Big Creek Road, off of State Route 168. The dam has a walkway across it to the south bank, but access is limited to employees of SCE and those residents who have been given a key. Its major industries are electric power generation and tourism. There is camping and water recreation in the summer and snow skiing in the winter. Huntington Lake is to the northeast and Shaver Lake is to the south. Sierra Summit is only about 15 kilometers (9 miles) away. Though Big Creek's only school is an elementary, it teaches kindergarten through 8th grade. Big Creek has a rich and interesting history. Those who reside in Big Creek have many interesting tales of the town and its surroundings. For example, some of the giant steel pipes that carry water from Huntington Lake to the hydroelectric plant, visible running down the mountainside, were purchased from the Krupp Works in Nazi Germany before the United States entered World War II. Some of these penstocks are stamped with a swastika. Most of the swastikas are turned to face into the ground, out of sight; however, a few of them are still visible. In addition, Big Creek is the hometown of Carver Mead, a Caltech electrical engineering professor who is responsible for developing the first GaAs MESFET and for his pioneering contributions to VLSI design. The first post office opened at Big Creek in 1912.