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.
Hastings is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 24,064 at the 2000 census. Hastings is home to Hastings College, a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1882. It is known as the town where Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in 1927, and celebrates that event with Kool-Aid Days the second weekend of every August. Hastings is also home to Fisher Fountain, and during World War II operated the largest Naval Ammunition Depot in the United States. Hastings is also the birthplace of Neal Hefti and former University of Nebraska football coach and Congressman Tom Osborne. A National Weather Service Forecast Office is located there, serving central and south-central Nebraska and six counties in north-central Kansas. On June 24, 2007, Hastings won Yahoo's Greenest City in America competition. Hastings is the principal city of the Hastings, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Adams and Clay counties.