Civil Law tradition

 Civil Law Tradition 

In today's world, most countries follow one of two legal traditions: common law or civil law. During the middle Ages, the common law tradition arose in England and was later adopted by British colonies all over the world. Civil law developed concurrently in continental Europe and was implemented in the colonies of European imperial powers such as Spain and Portugal. In the nineteenth and twentieth century’s, civil law was also introduced. Countries that used to have distinct legal traditions, such as Russia and Japan, have been doing so for centuries. In order to improve their legal systems, they sought to reform them. Attain economic and political clout similar to that of Western European nation-states are an example of this.

The majority of common law is uncodified. This implies that no comprehensive collection of legal rules and statutes exists. While common law does rely on a few scattered statutes, which are legislative decisions, it is mostly based on precedent, which refers to previous judicial decisions in similar circumstances. These precedents are preserved over time in court records as well as historically documented in yearbooks and reports, which are collections of case law. The presiding judge decides which precedents will be used in the decision of each new case. As a result, judges play a significant role in the development of American and British law. Common law is an adversarial system, in which two opposed parties compete before a judge who arbitrates. The facts of the case are decided by a jury of regular people with no legal expertise.

In contrast, civil law is codified. Civil law countries have comprehensive, constantly updated legal codes that detail all matters that can be brought before a court, the relevant procedure, and the appropriate punishment for each infraction. Different areas of law are distinguished in such codes: substantive law determines which activities are subject to criminal or civil prosecution, procedural law determines how to determine if a specific conduct is a criminal offence, and penal law determines the appropriate penalty. The job of the judge in a civil law system is to determine the facts of the case and to apply the applicable code's requirements. Though the judge is often the one who files formal charges, analyses the case, and renders a decision, he or she does so within the context of a full, defined set of laws.

Neo-Roman law, Romano-Germanic law, and Continental law are all terms used to describe civil law. The phrase "civil law" comes from the Latin jus civile, or "citizens' law," which was the late imperial term for its legal system, as opposed to the laws governing conquered peoples (jus gentium); hence the title Corpus Juris Civilis of the Justinian Code. Civil law practitioners, on the other hand, have traditionally referred to their system as jus commune in a broad sense.

 Civil law system is the most widespread system of law in the world, in force in various forms in about 150 countries. It draws heavily from Roman law, arguably the most intricate known legal system before the modern era.

There are three types of civil law systems:

Those where Roman law is still in force in some form but no attempt has been made to construct a civil code: Andorra and San Marino are two countries in Europe.

Those who live in uncodified mixed systems where civil law is a source of academic authority but common law also has sway: Scotland and the countries that follow Roman-Dutch law (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Guyana) Those with codified hybrid systems in which civil law is the backdrop law but common law has a strong influence on public law: Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Quebec, and Louisiana are all part of the United States, the hybrid legal systems of Scandinavia, which have been partially codified and have a background law that is a blend of civil law and Scandinavian customary law.