# Civil Law

Civil [[law]] makes for a civil society.

Civil law provides a default framework for interactions between people (including abstract entities treated in some aspects as people).
A subset of civil law, [[contract law]], provides a mechanism for modifying that default framework.

Generally speaking, civil law:

- Provides compensation for damages ([[tort law]])
- Settles ownership disputes ([[property law]])
- Regulates behavior ([[regulatory law]])
- Controls the government ([[government law]])
- Funds the government ([[tax law]])

These are not distinct classes, but rather themes.
Sometimes a legal area combines multiple types of law under a single heading.

For example, [[intellectual property law]] describes how intellectual property is created, establishes an initial owner, and specifies how damages may be recovered for misuse.
These kinds of issues relate to both [[property law]] and [[tort law]].

And [[tort law]] can be viewed as private means to regulate behavior, as opposed to [[regulatory law]] where the government is directly responsible for enforcement.
The two futher intermingle when the government provides a [[private right of action]] to enforce a primarily regulatory provision.

[[Jury instructions]] are a great way to learn about disputes that often find their way into court.

[//begin]: # "Autogenerated link references for markdown compatibility"
[law]: law.md "Law"
[contract law]: contract-law.md "Contract Law"
[tort law]: tort-law.md "Tort Law"
[property law]: property-law.md "Property Law"
[regulatory law]: regulatory-law.md "Regulatory Law"
[government law]: government-law.md "Government Law"
[tax law]: tax-law.md "Tax Law"
[Jury instructions]: jury-instructions.md "Jury Instructions"
[//end]: # "Autogenerated link references"