Sam Lieberman, age 14, of Dover, Del., for his question:

JUST WHAT IS CIVIL LAW?

Civil law is a term with several meanings. The term is often used to describe the rules of private law and to set them apart from the rules of criminal law. When used this way, civil law covers such matters as contracts, ownership of property and payment for personal injury.

On the other hand, criminal law deals with actions that are harmful to society.

But the term "civil law" can also mean the law of moat European countries, as opposed to the common law of Great Britain and every state of the United States except Louisiana. Under this type of civil law, codes or sets of rules approved by legislatures are the primary sources used by judges to decide cases.

Under common law, judges base their decisions chiefly on previous court decisions in similar cases.

Originally, civil law referred to the code of laws collected by the Roman emperor Justinian in th A.D. 500s. These laws were used to govern the Roman Emperor.

In the United States, there has been much interest in arranging some existing laws into codes. Examples include the law of business and the law of crimes.