| 1 | Legal system |
| 2 | This entry provides the description of a country 's legal system ; it also includes information on acceptance of International Court of Justice ( ICJ ) jurisdiction . |
| 3 | The legal systems of nearly all countries are generally modeled upon elements of five main types : civil law ( including French law , the Napoleonic Code , Roman law , Roman - Dutch law , and Spanish law ) ; common law ( including United State law ) ; customary law ; mixed or pluralistic law ; and religious law ( including Islamic law ) . |
| 4 | An additional type of legal system - international law , which governs the conduct of independent nations in their relationships with one another - is also addressed below . |
| 5 | The following list describes these legal systems , the countries or world regions where these systems are enforced , and a brief statement on the origins and major features of each . |
| 6 | Civil Law - The most widespread type of legal system in the world , applied in various forms in approximately 150 countries . |
| 7 | Also referred to as European continental law , the civil law system is derived mainly from the Roman Corpus Juris Civilus , ( Body of Civil Law ) , a collection of laws and legal interpretations compiled under the East Roman ( Byzantine ) Emperor Justinian I between A.D. 528 and 565 . |
| 8 | The major feature of civil law systems is that the laws are organized into systematic written codes . |
| 9 | In civil law the sources recognized as authoritative are principally legislation - especially codifications in constitutions or statutes enacted by governments - and secondarily , custom . |
| 10 | The civil law systems in some countries are based on more than one code . |
| 11 | Common Law - A type of legal system , often synonymous with English common law , which is the system of England and Wales in the UK , and is also in force in approximately 80 countries formerly part of or influenced by the former British Empire . |
| 12 | English common law reflects Biblical influences as well as remnants of law systems imposed by early conquerors including the Romans , Anglo - Saxons , and Normans . |
| 13 | Some legal scholars attribute the formation of the English common law system to King Henry II ( r.1154 - 1189 ) . |
| 14 | Until the time of his reign , laws customary among England 's various manorial and ecclesiastical ( church ) jurisdictions were administered locally . |
| 15 | Henry II established the king 's court and designated that laws were common to the entire English realm . |
| 16 | The foundation of English common law is legal precedent - referred to as stare decisis , meaning to stand by things decided . |
| 17 | In the English common law system , court judges are bound in their decisions in large part by the rules and other doctrines developed - and supplemented over time - by the judges of earlier English courts . |
| 18 | Customary Law - A type of legal system that serves as the basis of , or has influenced , the present - day laws in approximately 40 countries - mostly in Africa , but some in the Pacific islands , Europe , and the Near East . |
| 19 | Customary law is also referred to as primitive law , unwritten law , indigenous law , and folk law . |
| 20 | There is no single history of customary law such as that found in Roman civil law , English common law , Islamic law , or the Napoleonic Civil Code . |
| 21 | The earliest systems of law in human society were customary , and usually developed in small agrarian and hunter - gatherer communities . |
| 22 | As the term implies , customary law is based upon the customs of a community . |
| 23 | Common attributes of customary legal systems are that they are seldom written down , they embody an organized set of rules regulating social relations , and they are agreed upon by members of the community . |
| 24 | Although such law systems include sanctions for law infractions , resolution tends to be reconciliatory rather than punitive . |
| 25 | A number of African states practiced customary law many centuries prior to colonial influences . |
| 26 | Following colonization , such laws were written down and incorporated to varying extents into the legal systems imposed by their colonial powers . |
| 27 | European Union Law - A sub - discipline of international law known as supranational law in which the rights of sovereign nations are limited in relation to one another . |
| 28 | Also referred to as the Law of the European Union or Community Law , it is the unique and complex legal system that operates in tandem with the laws of the 27 member states of the European Union ( EU ) . |
| 29 | Similar to federal states , the EU legal system ensures compliance from the member states because of the Union 's decentralized political nature . |
| 30 | The European Court of Justice ( ECJ ) , established in 1952 by the Treaty of Paris , has been largely responsible for the development of EU law . |
| 31 | Fundamental principles of European Union law include : subsidiarity - the notion that issues be handled by the smallest , lowest , or least centralized competent authority ; proportionality - the EU may only act to the extent needed to achieve its objectives ; conferral - the EU is a union of member states , and all its authorities are voluntarily granted by its members ; legal certainty - requires that legal rules be clear and precise ; and precautionary principle - a moral and political principle stating that if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public or to the environment , in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue , the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action . |
| 32 | French Law - A type of civil law that is the legal system of France . |
| 33 | The French system also serves as the basis for , or is mixed with , other legal systems in approximately 50 countries , notably in North Africa , the Near East , and the French territories and dependencies . |
| 34 | French law is primarily codified or systematic written civil law . |
| 35 | Prior to the French Revolution ( 1789 - 1799 ) , France had no single national legal system . |
| 36 | Laws in the northern areas of present - day France were mostly local customs based on privileges and exemptions granted by kings and feudal lords , while in the southern areas Roman law predominated . |
| 37 | The introduction of the Napoleonic Civil Code during the reign of Napoleon I in the first decade of the 19th century brought major reforms to the French legal system , many of which remain part of France 's current legal structure , though all have been extensively amended or redrafted to address a modern nation . |
| 38 | French law distinguishes between public law and private law . |
| 39 | Public law relates to government , the French Constitution , public administration , and criminal law . |
| 40 | Private law covers issues between private citizens or corporations . |
| 41 | The most recent changes to the French legal system - introduced in the 1980s - were the decentralization laws , which transferred authority from centrally appointed government representatives to locally elected representatives of the people . |
| 42 | International Law - The law of the international community , or the body of customary rules and treaty rules accepted as legally binding by states in their relations with each other . |
| 43 | International law differs from other legal systems in that it primarily concerns sovereign political entities . |
| 44 | There are three separate disciplines of international law : public international law , which governs the relationship between provinces and international entities and includes treaty law , law of the sea , international criminal law , and international humanitarian law ; private international law , which addresses legal jurisdiction ; and supranational law - a legal framework wherein countries are bound by regional agreements in which the laws of the member countries are held inapplicable when in conflict with supranational laws . |
| 45 | At present the European Union is the only entity under a supranational legal system . |
| 46 | The term international law was coined by Jeremy Bentham in 1780 in his Principles of Morals and Legislation , though laws governing relations between states have been recognized from very early times ( many centuries B.C. ) . |
| 47 | Modern international law developed alongside the emergence and growth of the European nation - states beginning in the early 16th century . |
| 48 | Other factors that influenced the development of international law included the revival of legal studies , the growth of international trade , and the practice of exchanging emissaries and establishing legations . |
| 49 | The sources of International law are set out in Article 38 - 1 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice within the UN Charter . |
| 50 | Islamic Law - The most widespread type of religious law , it is the legal system enforced in over 30 countries , particularly in the Near East , but also in Central and South Asia , Africa , and Indonesia . |
| 51 | In many countries Islamic law operates in tandem with a civil law system . |
| 52 | Islamic law is embodied in the sharia , an Arabic word meaning the right path . |
| 53 | Sharia covers all aspects of public and private life and organizes them into five categories : obligatory , recommended , permitted , disliked , and forbidden . |
| 54 | The primary sources of sharia law are the Qur'an , believed by Muslims to be the word of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel , and the Sunnah , the teachings of the Prophet and his works . |
| 55 | In addition to these two primary sources , traditional Sunni Muslims recognize the consensus of Muhammad 's companions and Islamic jurists on certain issues , called ijmas , and various forms of reasoning , including analogy by legal scholars , referred to as qiyas . |
| 56 | Shia Muslims reject ijmas and qiyas as sources of sharia law . |
| 57 | Mixed Law - Also referred to as pluralistic law , mixed law consists of elements of some or all of the other main types of legal systems - civil , common , customary , and religious . |
| 58 | The mixed legal systems of a number of countries came about when colonial powers overlaid their own legal systems upon colonized regions but retained elements of the colonies ' existing legal systems . |
| 59 | Napoleonic Civil Code - A type of civil law , referred to as the Civil Code or Code Civil des Francais , forms part of the legal system of France , and underpins the legal systems of Bolivia , Egypt , Lebanon , Poland , and the US state of Louisiana . |
| 60 | The Civil Code was established under Napoleon I , enacted in 1804 , and officially designated the Code Napoleon in 1807 . |
| 61 | This legal system combined the Teutonic civil law tradition of the northern provinces of France with the Roman law tradition of the southern and eastern regions of the country . |
| 62 | The Civil Code bears similarities in its arrangement to the Roman Body of Civil Law ( see Civil Law above ) . |
| 63 | As enacted in 1804 , the Code addressed personal status , property , and the acquisition of property . |
| 64 | Codes added over the following six years included civil procedures , commercial law , criminal law and procedures , and a penal code . |
| 65 | Religious Law - A legal system which stems from the sacred texts of religious traditions and in most cases professes to cover all aspects of life as a seamless part of devotional obligations to a transcendent , imminent , or deep philosophical reality . |
| 66 | Implied as the basis of religious law is the concept of unalterability , because the word of God can not be amended or legislated against by judges or governments . |
| 67 | However , a detailed legal system generally requires human elaboration . |
| 68 | The main types of religious law are sharia in Islam , halakha in Judaism , and canon law in some Christian groups . |
| 69 | Sharia is the most widespread religious legal system ( see Islamic Law ) , and is the sole system of law for countries including Iran , the Maldives , and Saudi Arabia . |
| 70 | No country is fully governed by halakha , but Jewish people may decide to settle disputes through Jewish courts and be bound by their rulings . |
| 71 | Canon law is not a divine law as such because it is not found in revelation . |
| 72 | It is viewed instead as human law inspired by the word of God and applying the demands of that revelation to the actual situation of the church . |
| 73 | Canon law regulates the internal ordering of the Roman Catholic Church , the Eastern Orthodox Church , and the Anglican Communion . |
| 74 | Roman Law - A type of civil law developed in ancient Rome and practiced from the time of the city 's founding ( traditionally 753 B.C. ) until the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century A.D. . |
| 75 | Roman law remained the legal system of the Byzantine ( Eastern Empire ) until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 . |
| 76 | Preserved fragments of the first legal text , known as the Law of the Twelve Tables , dating from the 5th century B.C. , contained specific provisions designed to change the prevailing customary law . |
| 77 | Early Roman law was drawn from custom and statutes ; later , during the time of the empire , emperors asserted their authority as the ultimate source of law . |
| 78 | The basis for Roman laws was the idea that the exact form - not the intention - of words or of actions produced legal consequences . |
| 79 | It was only in the late 6th century A.D. that a comprehensive Roman code of laws was published ( see Civil Law above ) . |
| 80 | Roman law served as the basis of law systems developed in a number of continental European countries . |
| 81 | Roman - Dutch Law - A type of civil law based on Roman law as applied in the Netherlands . |
| 82 | Roman - Dutch law serves as the basis for legal systems in seven African countries , as well as Guyana , Indonesia , and Sri Lanka . |
| 83 | This law system , which originated in the province of Holland and expanded throughout the Netherlands ( to be replaced by the French Civil Code in 1809 ) , was instituted in a number of sub - Saharan African countries during the Dutch colonial period . |
| 84 | The Dutch jurist <sol> philosopher Hugo Grotius was the first to attempt to reduce Roman - Dutch civil law into a system in his Jurisprudence of Holland ( written 1619 - 20 , commentary published 1621 ) . |
| 85 | The Dutch historian <sol> lawyer Simon van Leeuwen coined the term Roman - Dutch law in 1652 . |
| 86 | Spanish Law - A type of civil law , often referred to as the Spanish Civil Code , |
| 87 | it is the present legal system of Spain and is the basis of legal systems in 12 countries mostly in Central and South America , but also in southwestern Europe , northern and western Africa , and southeastern Asia . |
| 88 | The Spanish Civil Code reflects a complex mixture of customary , Roman , Napoleonic , local , and modern codified law . |
| 89 | The laws of the Visigoth invaders of Spain in the 5th to 7th centuries had the earliest major influence on Spanish legal system development . |
| 90 | The Christian Reconquest of Spain in the 11th through 15th centuries witnessed the development of customary law , which combined canon ( religious ) and Roman law . |
| 91 | During several centuries of Hapsburg and Bourbon rule , systematic recompilations of the existing national legal system were attempted , but these often conflicted with local and regional customary civil laws . |
| 92 | Legal system development for most of the 19th century concentrated on formulating a national civil law system , which was finally enacted in 1889 as the Spanish Civil Code . |
| 93 | Several sections of the code have been revised , the most recent of which are the penal code in 1989 and the judiciary code in 2001 . |
| 94 | The Spanish Civil Code separates public and private law . |
| 95 | Public law includes constitutional law , administrative law , criminal law , process law , financial and tax law , and international public law . |
| 96 | Private law includes civil law , commercial law , labor law , and international private law . |
| 97 | United States Law - A type of common law , which is the basis of the legal system of the United States and that of its island possessions in the Caribbean and the Pacific . |
| 98 | This legal system has several layers , more possibly than in most other countries , and is due in part to the division between federal and state law . |
| 99 | The United States was founded not as one nation but as a union of 13 colonies , each claiming independence from the British Crown . |
| 100 | The US Constitution , implemented in 1789 , began shifting power away from the states and toward the federal government , though the states today retain substantial legal authority . |
| 101 | US law draws its authority from four sources : constitutional law , statutory law , administrative regulations , and case law . |
| 102 | Constitutional law is based on the US Constitution and serves as the supreme federal law . |
| 103 | Taken together with those of the state constitutions , these documents outline the general structure of the federal and state governments and provide the rules and limits of power . |
| 104 | US statutory law is legislation enacted by the US Congress and is codified in the United States Code . |
| 105 | The 50 state legislatures have similar authority to enact state statutes . |
| 106 | Administrative law is the authority delegated to federal and state executive agencies . |
| 107 | Case law , also referred to as common law , covers areas where constitutional or statutory law is lacking . |
| 108 | Case law is a collection of judicial decisions , customs , and general principles that began in England centuries ago , that were adopted in America at the time of the Revolution , and that continue to develop today . |