法律英语

Acommonlawlegalsystemisasystemoflawcharacterizedbycaselaw,which

is

lawsystemsalsoincludestatutesenactedbylegislativebodies,thoughthosestatutes

typicallyeithercodifyjudicialdecisionsorfillinareasofthelawnotcoveredbycase

law.

Incontrasttocommonlawsystems,civillawsystemsarefoundedonasetoflegalcodes,

whichareorganizedlawsthatattempttocoverexhaustivelythevariouslegaldomains,andis

characterizedbyanabsenceofprecedentinthejudicialapplicationofthosecodes.[3]Inthe

modernperiod,bothsystemstendtoincludeadministrativeregulationswhichmayalsobe

codified.[4]

Civillawisprimarilycontrastedwithcommonlaw,whichisthelegalsystemdevelopedfirst

inEngland,etheirdifferences,

olvedinmuchthe

sameway,anlawunderlyingcivillawdevelopedmainly

fromcustomarylawthatwasrefinedwithcaselawandlegislation.

Acommonlawsystemisalegalsystemthatgivesgreatpotentialprecedentialweight

tocommonlaw,ontheprinciplethatitisunfairtotreatsimilarfactsdifferentlyon

differentoccasions.[6]Thebodyofprecedentiscalled"commonlaw"anditbinds

swherethepartiesdisagreeonwhatthelawis,acommon

ilardispute

hasbeenresolvedinthepast,thecourtisusuallyboundtofollowthereasoningused

,however,thecourtfindsthatthecurrentdisputeis

fundamentallydistinctfromallpreviouscases,judgeshavetheauthorityanddutyto

makelawbycreatingprecedent.[7]Thereafter,thenewdecisionbecomesprecedent,

andwillbindfuturecourts.

Inpractice,commonlawsystemsareconsiderablymorecomplicatedthanthe

isionsofacourtarebindingonlyina

particularjurisdiction,andevenwithinagivenjurisdiction,somecourtshavemore

mple,inmostjurisdictions,decisionsbyappellatecourtsare

bindingonlowercourtsinthesamejurisdiction,andonfuturedecisionsofthesame

appellatecourt;butdecisionsoflowercourtsareonlynon-bindingpersuasive

ctionsbetweencommonlaw,constitutionallaw,statutory

r,stare

decisis,theprinciplethatsimilarcasesshouldbedecidedaccordingtoconsistent

principledrulessothattheywillreachsimilarresults,liesattheheartofallcommon

lawsystems.

CivillawisalegalsystemoriginatinginEurope,intellectualizedwithinthe

frameworkoflateRomanlaw,andwhosemostprevalentfeatureisthatitscore

principlesarecodifiedintoareferablesystemwhichservesastheprimarysourceof

nbecontrastedwithcommonlawsystemswhoseintellectualframework

comesfromjudge-madedecisionallawwhichgivesprecedentialauthoritytoprior

courtdecisionsontheprinciplethatitisunfairtotreatsimilarfactsdifferentlyon

differentoccasions(doctrineofjudicialprecedent).[1][2]

Historically,civillawisthegroupoflegalideasandsystemsultimatelyderivedfrom

theCodeofJustinian,butheavilyoverlaidbyapoleonic,Germanic,canonical,

feudal,andlocalpractices,[3]aswellasdoctrinalstrainssuchasnaturallaw,

codification,andlegalpositivism.

Conceptually,civillawproceedsfromabstractions,formulatesgeneralprinciples,and

distinguishessubstantiverulesfromproceduralrules.[4]Itholdscaselawtobe

scussingcivillaw,oneshould

k

markedfeatureofciviliansystemsisthattheyusecodeswithbrieftextthattendto

avoidfactuallyspecificscenarios.[5]Codearticlesdealingeneralitiesandthus,stand

atoddswithstatutoryschemeswhichareoftenverylongandverydetailed.