Law

The contemporary **legal systems of the world** are generally based on either civil law (also known as *Roman law*) which is based on statutory law or common law which is based on case law or a combination of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history and so incorporates individual variations. The science that studies Law at the level of legal systems is called Comparative Law.

* How - Common law
* What - Civil law
* Why - Because all men (and women) are equal in the eyes of the law

## Civil law

**Statutory law** or **statute law** is written law passed by a body of legislature.

* This is as opposed to oral or customary law; or regulatory law promulgated by the executive or common law of the judiciary.

Statutes may originate with national legislatures, state legislatures or local municipalities.

The source of law that is recognized as authoritative is codifications in a constitution or statute passed by legislature, to amend a code.

* While the concept of codification dates back to the Code of Hammurabi in Babylon ca. 1790 BC, civil law systems derive from the Roman Empire and, more particularly, the *Corpus Juris Civilis* issued by the Emperor Justinian 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 enactments (rather than legal precedents, as in common law) are considered legally binding.

## Common law

**Case law** is the collected body of decisions written by courts and similar tribunals in the course of deciding past cases, in which the tribunals analyzed the law to resolve ambiguities and fill gaps to set principled rules for deciding those past cases. These past decisions are called "case law" , or precedent to the extent that those past decisions are used by future judges to decide future cases. Stare decisis—a Latin phrase meaning “let the decision stand”—is the principle by which judges are bound to such past decisions.

* These judicial interpretations are distinguished from statutory law, which are codes enacted by legislative bodies, and regulatory law, which are established by executive agencies based on statutes. In some jurisdictions, case law can be applied to ongoing adjudication; for example, criminal proceedings or family law.

* The relationships between statutes and judicial decisions can be complex. In some jurisdictions, such statutes may overrule judicial decisions or codify the topic covered by several contradictory or ambiguous decisions. In some jurisdictions, judicial decisions may decide whether the jurisdiction's constitution allowed a particular statute or statutory provision to be made or what meaning is contained within the statutory provisions. Statutes were allowed to be made by the government.

In common law countries, the term case law is a near-exact synonym for common law. It is used for judicial decisions of selected appellate courts, courts of the first instance, agency tribunals, and other bodies discharging adjudicatory functions.

Common law and equity (legal concept) are systems of law whose sources are the decisions in cases by judges.

Common law courts generally explain in detail the legal rationale behind their decisions, with citations of both legislation and previous relevant judgments, and often interpret the wider legal principles. The necessary analysis (called *ratio decidendi*), then constitutes a precedent binding on other courts; further analyses not strictly necessary to the determination of the current case are called *obiter dicta*, which constitute persuasive authority but are not technically binding.

* By contrast, decisions in civil law jurisdictions are generally shorter, referring only to statutes. The reason for this difference is that these civil law jurisdictions adhere to a tradition that the reader should be able to deduce the logic from the decision and the statutes.

Common law developed in England, influenced by Anglo-Saxon law and to a much lesser extent by the Norman conquest of England, which introduced legal concepts from Norman law, which, in turn, had its origins in Salic law. Common law was later inherited by the Commonwealth of Nations, and almost every former colony of the British Empire has adopted it (Malta being an exception). The doctrine of *stare decisis*, also known as *case law* or *precedent by courts*, is the major difference to codified civil law systems.

### Countries

Common law is currently in practice in Ireland, most of the United Kingdom (England and Wales and Northern Ireland), Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, India (excluding Goa), Pakistan, South Africa, Canada (excluding Quebec), Hong Kong, the United States (on a state level excluding Louisiana), and many other places. In addition to these countries, several others have adapted the common law system into a mixed system. For example, Nigeria operates largely on a common law system, but incorporates religious law.

In the European Union, the Court of Justice takes an approach mixing civil law (based on the treaties) with an attachment to the importance of case law. One of the most fundamental documents to shape common law is the English Magna Carta, which placed limits on the power of the English Kings. It served as a kind of medieval bill of rights for the aristocracy and the judiciary who developed the law.

## Narrowing of differences between common law and civil law

The contrast between civil law and common law legal systems has become increasingly blurred, with the growing importance of jurisprudence (similar to case law but not binding) in civil law countries, and the growing importance of statute law and codes in common law countries.

* **Jurisprudence** or **legal theory** is the theoretical study of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and provide a deeper understanding of legal reasoning, legal systems, legal institutions, and the role of law in society.

Examples of common law being replaced by statute or codified rule in the United States include criminal law (since 1812, U.S. federal courts and most but not all of the states have held that criminal law must be embodied in statute if the public is to have fair notice), commercial law (the Uniform Commercial Code in the early 1960s) and procedure (the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in the 1930s and the Federal Rules of Evidence in the 1970s). But note that in each case, the statute sets the general principles, but the interstitial common law process determines the scope and application of the statute.

An example of convergence from the other direction is shown in the 1982 decision *Srl CILFIT and Lanificio di Gavardo SpA v Ministry of Health* (ECLI:EU:C:1982:335), in which the European Court of Justice held that questions it has already answered need not be resubmitted. This showed how a historically distinctly common law principle is used by a court composed of judges (at that time) of essentially civil law jurisdiction.