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.
Keswick is an unincorporated community in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States, about six miles east of Charlottesville. Keswick has few businesses, and lacks a central business district. It is predominantly residential, with a mixture of large farms, estates, middle-income, and low-income housing. Since many of the parcels of land in Keswick are large, it is relatively undeveloped and still retains its natural beauty, which is enhanced by a prominent view of the Southwest Mountains. The drive through Keswick "has often been cited as one of the most scenic in America," writes the New York Times. Many of the estates were plantations in the 1700s. No major development took place in Keswick until the 1990s, and the development since then has been subject to strict scrutiny by Albemarle County officials. The town includes Keswick Hall, a club and estate owned by Orient-Express Hotels, which includes a golf course. Oakland School, a special boarding and day school for children with learning disabilities, is in Keswick. A CSX freight rail line runs through the town. The Shackelford family, long prominent in Albemarle and Orange counties and in the Monticello Association, has a family cemetery in Keswick. The postal delivery area by the name of Keswick is substantially larger than Keswick itself, extending to the north nearly to Gordonsville and to the west to Stony Point, encompassing towns too small to have a post office, including Cash Corner, Cismont, Lindsay, Stony Point, Boyd Tavern, Cobham, Whitlock, and Rosena.