Civil Law and Common Law

Question 1

What legal system can you find in common law and civil law Countries?

Answer 1

• common law: case law (UK, USA, australia, hong kong, ireland, … countries influenced by english tradition, and former british colonies)
• civil law: statutes/ codes (germany, france, belgium, italy, …)

Question 2

Aspects on Civil Law countries

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Answer 2

• drawn on roman law
• statutes are most important source of law
• utilization of case law for interpretation of case law
• judges have to apply/ interpret statutes

Question 3

Aspects on common law countries

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Answer 3

• english development (kings court, customs)
• case law is the most important source of law (relying to precedent cases!)
• statutes have significant impact
• judges play an active role in the rule development (system of leading cases / stare decisis)

Question 4

What are the pros of a code-based system?

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Answer 4

• provide legal certainty
• easy to understand
• codes are well structured
• provisions appy to a lot of cases and not only to a case-by-case decision
• easy to discern: even a layman is able to get to know his/her law

Question 5

What are the cons of a code-based system?

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Answer 5

• different types of legal terms (general part, special part, …)
• legal terms are often uncertain and vague
• rules often not easy to undeerstand
• parliament is required to enact new legislation
• lawyers are required to apply statutes to specific cases