The Com-parison of Civil Law Systems

*Professor Leticia G.

Patino

Presenter:

* Professor Leticia G.

Patino

Email: ProfessorPatino

@yahoo.com

* Professor Leticia G.

Patino

Office: Law Department

Room 208

* Professor Leticia G.

Patino

Office Phone #: 053–810-2689

* Professor Leticia G.

Patino

Welcome

The three major legal systems of the world today consist of:

civil law, common lawreligious law. However, countries have often developed varia-tions on each system or incorporated many other features into the system.

List of country legal systems

Legal Systems of the World Civil law Common law Bijuridical (civil and common law, also known as mixed jurisdiction) Customary law Shariah

Civil law is the most widespread system of law around the world.

While the concept of

codificationdates back to the Code

of Hammurabi in Babylon

ca. 1790 B.C. . . .

Civil law systems mainly derive from the Roman Empire, and more particularly, theCorpus Juris Civilis is-

sued by the Emperor Jus-tinian ca. AD 529.

This was an extensive reform of the law in the Byzantine Empire, bringing it together into codified documents.

Civil law was also partly influenced by religious laws

such as

Canon law and Islamic law.

Civil law today,in theory, is interpreted

rather than

developed or made by judges.

Only legislative en-actments

(rather than judicial prece-dents,

as in common law)

are considered legally binding.

Civ

i l

La

w

Co

un

trie

s

A list of countries that base their legal system on a codified civil law “

Albania Angola Argentina Andorra Aruba Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Chad People's Republic of China Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo Cote d'Ivoire Cambodia Cape Verde Central African Republic Chile Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Finland France Equatorial Guinea Ethiopia Gabon Guinea Guinea- Bissau Georgia Germany Greece Guatemala Haiti Honduras

Albania Angola Argentina Andorra Aruba Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Chad People's Republic of China Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo Cote d'Ivoire Cambodia Cape Verde Central African Republic Chile Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Finland France Equatorial Guinea Ethiopia Gabon Guinea Guinea- Bissau Georgia Germany Greece Guatemala Haiti Honduras

Finland France Equatorial Guinea Ethiopia Gabon Guinea Guinea- Bissau Georgia Germany Greece Guatemala Haiti Honduras Hungary Iceland Italy J apan Latvia Lebanon Lithuania

Lebanon Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Mexico Mongolia Montenegro Netherlands Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Poland Portugal Republic of China (Taiwan) Romania Russia São Tomé e Príncipe

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey

Ukraine

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

German civil law, a modified civil law, is used in: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, former Yugoslav republics, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Japan, South Korea and the Republic of China

Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law.

The primary feature is that:

The laws are written into a collection,

codified,

(Definition:Laws that are written,

organized and col-lected)

and not (as in common law) determined by judges.

Civil law formulates

general principles,

Civil law distinguishes between

substantive rules and

procedural rules.

Civil law holds legisla-tion as the

primary source of law.

The court system is

inquisitorial.(Inquisitive, asking ques-tions, seeking answers.)

The court system is

unbound by precedent.

The court systemis

composed of specially trained judicial officers.

They have lim-ited authority to

interpret law.

Juries separate from the judges

are not used.

Although, in some cases,

volunteer lay judges

work with legally trained career judges.

* Professor Leticia G.

Patino

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*Professor.-Patino

@yahoo.com

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