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.
West Point is a city in Harris and Troup Counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 3,382. The Harris County portion of West Point is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Troup County portion is part of the LaGrange Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its first name was Franklin (there is now another Franklin, Georgia). The town's current name comes from being near the westernmost point on the Chattahoochee River, where its southwestward flow from the mountains and by Atlanta quickly turns toward the south-southeast to form the state line with Alabama. Lake West Point was created by the Army Corps of Engineers at this point for flood control, just upstream from the town, which flooded when the dam nearly overflowed in late spring of 2003. Excessive thunderstorm rains upstream in the Atlanta metro area the day before, combined with the same situation locally that day, in addition to allegedly poor forecasting of lake levels and inflow, would have exceeded the capacity of the lake and topped the dam had the emergency release not been made. While this avoided an outright dambreak and catastrophic failure, the town flooded more so than any time since the dam had been built. Still, the town was spared a much worse fate, as flooding would have been seriously worse without the dam. The Atlanta & LaGrange Railroad was renamed the Atlanta & West Point Railroad for the town, and the town of East Point was named so for being at the opposite end of the line near Atlanta.