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.
Diggins is a village in Webster County, Missouri, United States. The population was 298 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. The small community, which once had two grocery stores, two gas stations, a feed mill and a bank until the Great Depression, is located halfway between Fordland and Seymour on U.S. 60. Diggins has its own water and sewer system for residents inside its city limits. Diggins is known best to the outside world as the hometown of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. At the community's 100-year centennial celebration in 1987, Walton visited Diggins. Today, Diggins has a post office and a few businesses. The village's gathering place is the Diggins Community Building, a facility that also includes a park and playground. State highways O and NN meet U.S. 60 in Diggins, and the rural area surrounding the community has grown at a rapid rate over the past twenty years.