The official (or unofficial) flag of the country used by the people, perhaps public flag would be clearer. As opposed to the state flag reserved for the government or the military. A civil ensign is a flag used at sea by private (or any non-government) ships - Nathan Augustine, 1996-09-27.

The national flag used by private citizens on the land. Civil flags have been used rather than state flags throughout this book to illustrate national flags.

the version of a country's flag used by individuals and non-government organizations on land, when variants exist for official purposes; usually informally called the national flag; an example is the

The NATIONAL FLAG flown on land by private citizens.

A civil flag is a national flag that is displayed on land by private citizens.

The version of the country's national flag, for use by private citizens.

A civil flag is a version of the national flag that is flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. The use of civil flags was more common in the past, in order to denote buildings or ships that were not manned by the military. In some countries the civil flag was the same as the war flag or state flag, but without the coat of arms, such as in the case of Spain, and in others it was an alteration of the war flag.