Generally:
Civil Court determines if the defendant is: Liable/Not Liable
Criminal Court determines if the defendant is: Guilty/Innocent

This differs from country to country and even state to state, so I can't be very specific. In general, a civil court is about liability and compensation. The goal is to determine if the defendant damaged the plaintiff and what sort of compensation the defendant must pay the plaintiff to make amends.

This is different than "criminal" court, which is about guilt and punishment. The goal of a criminal court is to determine if the defendant is "guilty" of a crime and assign an appropriate punishment (i.e. jail, community service, etc.).

Often criminal and civil proceedings can be held at the same court house, but using different procedures. For example, a civil case usually has a lower standard of proof than a criminal case. In the state of California, a criminal court cannot convict a defendant unless the jury finds them "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." In a California Civil court, the jury can assign liability to the defendant based on a “preponderance of evidence”, which roughly equates to "more likely than not" liable.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_procedure
http://people.howstuffworks.com/lawsuit1.htm
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1071696
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_procedure


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