Civil Law vs Common Law
November 27, 2009
There are many differences between civil law and common law. The term common law has emerged from English colonies and English legal system and this mostly prevailing in Commonwealth countries and United States. Civil law refers to the European system of law which emerged from Roman law but restores itself in Germanic tradition.
Both civil law and common law are based on the decisions of judges and each case is different. There is lot of scope and potential to analyse each case and to analyse the problem before the court and there is also great scope to develop new law depending on the unique nature of a case. On the other side, civil law system is based on the discretion of judiciary powers Both are equally important and very effective in giving valid judgments to the people on various issues.
Civil law is mostly guided by code of laws whereas common law has greater scope to introduce independent laws that are of necessity depending on the case-to-case basis. There are three legal systems at present under practice in the world and these are civil law, common law and religious law. Each country or state can develop a new system and can incorporate many new changes into the system. Civil law is the law that is widely used as a system of law in the world with the fact that there are many statutes, codes and constitutional laws and in case these have to amended, there is a very lengthy procedure at the national level. There are more interpretations in theory than those developed by judges. Only constitutional and legislature amendments are acceptable in civil laws. Further amendments made in the code of civil law have to provide good benefit and advantage to the people and must produce positive results to the society.
Civil law is divided into four unique groups such as French civil law, German civil law, Chinese law and scandinavian civil law. Each nation strictly adheres to the principles and code of civil law and common law and applies wherever required. The laws are very important for the citizens because without the guidance of laws, people cannot solve their problems either at home or with outsiders. It may be an accident or a dispute of property or may be a tenant problem. For every solution to the problem, a citizen can approach civil law or common law depending on the case and issue and can win an argument in the case. Especially in the age of Internet, wherein every piece of guidance is available about legal system and access to civil law and common law are very easy to find and to take guidance and support of a lawyer or an attorney.
Understanding about civil law and common law, knowing about the difference of each law is also important with the fact that, to apply it relevantly in a particular issue and to draw suitable decisions from the judge is of an important task for common people. When people approach legal system there is an assurance of remedy and judgment for the courts.
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