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.
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River. The population was 58,268 at the 2000 census. Along with neighboring Omaha, Council Bluffs is part of the 60th-largest metropolitan area in the United States in 2000, with an estimated population of 837,925 residing in the eight counties of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. Council Bluffs is several decades older than its significantly larger neighbor across the river, Omaha, which was founded by Council Bluffs businessmen and speculators in 1854 following the Kansas-Nebraska Act.