There are quite a few lessons to be had from this case, but the most important is that it is stupid very stupid to engage in conduct that has the effect of turning a purely civil dispute (here, a divorce) into potential criminal charges.

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He also revealed that the judiciary is looking at the potential for greater use of mediation, or alternative dispute resolution, in appropriate civil cases.

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The land dispute itself is a matter of civil law, and many of the decisions may have been taken by junior officials.

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Example: Several years ago, counsel for two defendants in a civil lawsuit arrived for the mediation of their dispute nearly an hour late.

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This kind of accounting dispute, says Michael Garvin, a professor of civil engineering at Columbia University, often happens in cost-plus deals.

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Used primarily in civil cases, meteorologists are called upon to testify in court as to how the weather influenced the dispute at hand.

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The participants are deemed to be working for a civil-engineering firm, and are sent off to the proposed site of a new bridge to settle a dispute with local residents and officials.

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