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.
Ararat is an unincorporated community in Patrick County, Virginia, United States, south of the Blue Ridge Parkway and north of Mount Airy, North Carolina. Ararat is located near the Virginia/North Carolina state line about five miles north of Mount Airy, North Carolina and about 25 miles west of Stuart, Virginia. The community's name comes from the Ararat River which flows through the area. The River takes its name from the Saura Indian name for nearby Pilot Mountain in Surry County, North Carolina. The large Monadnock mountain was thought to resemble a bullfrog and the Indians named it after the sound they thought it made "Ratratrat". Early white settlers thought what they were saying sounded like "Ararat," the mountain which, according to the Bible, was the landing point of Noah's Ark. Blue Ridge Elementary School is located in the community. Several famous people were born in the community, such as the Reverend Bob Childress; "The Man Who Moved A Mountain," Orlean Puckett; the famous midwife whose cabin is along the parkway; and James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, the Major General of Cavalry for Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War. The J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace, Laurel Hill, is a preserved private park in the community that is open for self-guided tours daily and holds a Civil War encampment the first full weekend of October each year.