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.
Wales is a town in Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 219 at the 2000 census. The town is governed by a mayor and several council members. As of December 2008, Wales had no stores, gas stations nor stop lights. It does have a park, fire station, library and cemetery. The small mining town of Wales was named for the country of the immigrants that were sent there by Brigham Young in 1859 to mine the "rock that burns". A Native American Indian named Tabiyuna, a prominent Ute, had shown Young, then president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a small sample. Young recognized it as coal and asked if any of his group knew how to mine the coal. The Welsh immigrants, having experience with coal mining in the U.K. , were sent to the west side hills to set up mines. The community's original name was Coal Bed, but was changed to Wales in 1869. There once was a railroad depot and it was an important and busy mining center. The mines and town were abandoned when more productive mines were discovered in Scofield, Utah. Many of the present residents are descendants of the original miners. Wales lies on the west side of the Sanpete Valley, at the foot of the Sanpitch Mountains.