Civil War - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition civil-war

Definition :

Civil war, is a war which has the special characteristic of being civil, that is to say internal rather than external. A decision on whether such a war exists generally involves a consideration of (1) whether it can be said that the conflict was between opposing 'sides', (2) what were the objects of the 'sides' and how did they set about pursuing them, and (3) what was the scale of the conflict and its effect on public order and on the life of its inhabitants, Spinney's (1948) Ltd. v. Royal Insurance Co. Ltd., (1980) 1 Cloyd's Rep 406 (UK).