Common and Civil Law Legal Systems
Common and Civil law legal systems
According to Zimmermann there are "as many legal systems as there are national states". Every country has its own unique legal system. However, we can allocate among them three main legal systems. These are: Civil Law, Common Law and Islamic Law. Civil and Common Laws are the most influential legal systems in the world, especially in its Western part. All three of these legal systems have existed and developed for many centuries. Further will follow the description of the historically appearance of each legal system separately.
Civil legal system is considered to be the oldest and the most widespread one. It also known as Continental, Roman or Romano-Germanic law. In general, Roman law consists of a combination of three main subtraditions such as Roman Civil Law, Canon Law and Commercial Law. The development of Roman Law cover more than a thousand year period, starting from the publication of the law of the XII Tables in Rome (450 B.C.) and the code of Emperor Justinian I Corpus Juris Civilic , which was created in period from 529 – 534 A.D and later developed by medieval legal scholars. Countries with Civil legal system: France, Germany, Japan, Russia and Uzbekistan.
The Common law evolved in England since 11th century after being conquered by the Normans in 1066 A.D.. Afterwards William I the Conqueror created central government and began to standardize the law by combining the best of Anglo-Saxon law with Norman Law which led to a creation of English Common Law. “William’s enduring legacy was the creation of highly centralized legal system”.[1] (Kritzer, H, M, 2002). The case law originally appeared when the King understood, that many cases, which he had to solve were similar and needed standardization. During the 14th century legal decisions on the common law started providing precedents for the judges to follow. In 1769 Sir William Blackstone wrote Commentaries on the Laws of England, which became the basics of the
According to Zimmermann there are "as many legal systems as there are national states". Every country has its own unique legal system. However, we can allocate among them three main legal systems. These are: Civil Law, Common Law and Islamic Law. Civil and Common Laws are the most influential legal systems in the world, especially in its Western part. All three of these legal systems have existed and developed for many centuries. Further will follow the description of the historically appearance of each legal system separately.
Civil legal system is considered to be the oldest and the most widespread one. It also known as Continental, Roman or Romano-Germanic law. In general, Roman law consists of a combination of three main subtraditions such as Roman Civil Law, Canon Law and Commercial Law. The development of Roman Law cover more than a thousand year period, starting from the publication of the law of the XII Tables in Rome (450 B.C.) and the code of Emperor Justinian I Corpus Juris Civilic , which was created in period from 529 – 534 A.D and later developed by medieval legal scholars. Countries with Civil legal system: France, Germany, Japan, Russia and Uzbekistan.
The Common law evolved in England since 11th century after being conquered by the Normans in 1066 A.D.. Afterwards William I the Conqueror created central government and began to standardize the law by combining the best of Anglo-Saxon law with Norman Law which led to a creation of English Common Law. “William’s enduring legacy was the creation of highly centralized legal system”.[1] (Kritzer, H, M, 2002). The case law originally appeared when the King understood, that many cases, which he had to solve were similar and needed standardization. During the 14th century legal decisions on the common law started providing precedents for the judges to follow. In 1769 Sir William Blackstone wrote Commentaries on the Laws of England, which became the basics of the
Bibliography: 2. Elliott, C & Quinn, F., (1996). English legal system. New York: Addison Wesley Longman 3 4. Woodley, M., (2005). Osborn’s Concise law dictionary. 10th ed. London : Sweet & Maxwell 5 6. Zweigert, K. and Kötz, H., (1998). An introduction to comparative law. 3rd ed. 5. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, (2007). Corpus Juris Civilic. [online] Columbia University Press. Available from: < http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0813641.html > [Accessed 16 March 2009]. [1] Kritzer, H M, 2002, Legal systems of the world, volume I A-D, ABC-CLIO, California. [2] De Cruz, P, 2007, Comparative law in a changing world, 3d edn, Routledge-Cavendish, Oxon. [3] Kritzer, H M, 2002, Legal systems of the world, volume I A-D, ABC-CLIO, California. [4] Elliott, C & Quinn, F, 1996, English legal system, Addison Wesley Longman, New York. [5] Woodley, M, 2005, Osborn’s Concise law dictionary, 10th edn, Sweet & Maxwell, London.