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.
Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 13,315 at the 2000 census. Stanford is an unincorporated area of Santa Clara County and is adjacent to the city of Palo Alto. Stanford, California is a valid postal address, and has its own post office and ZIP codes: 94305 (campus buildings) and 94309 (post-office boxes). A popular site to see/hike in Stanford is the Dish. The CDP of Stanford is mostly made up of Stanford University. Its resident population consists of the inhabitants of on-campus housing, including graduate student villages and the "Faculty Ghetto" of single-family homes owned by their faculty inhabitants but located on leased Stanford land. A residential neighborhood adjacent to the Stanford campus, College Terrace, featuring streets named after universities and colleges, including Oxford, Harvard, and Columbia, is not part of the Stanford CDP but of the city of Palo Alto.