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.
Port Jervis is a city in Orange County, New York. The population was 8,860 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area. The city of Port Jervis includes the point where the states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania adjoin. Port Jervis, then a part of Deerpark, was a port on the former Delaware and Hudson Canal. It is also known as the "River City. " The town is named in honor of John B. Jervis (believed by some to actually be Jarvis), the chief engineer on the canal. The communities of Deerpark, Huguenot, Sparrowbush, and Greenville are adjacent to Port Jervis. The towns of Montague, New Jersey and Matamoras, Pennsylvania face the city across the respective state borders. Port Jervis is the home of the last stop on the 95-mile-long (151 km) Port Jervis Line, which is a commuter railroad line from Hoboken, New Jersey and New York City that is contracted to NJ Transit by the Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company (the line itself continues on to Binghamton and Buffalo, but passenger service beyond Port Jervis was discontinued in 1966).