Civil law is the legal system used in most countries of the world today. In civil law, the sources recognized as authoritative are mainly legislation – especially codifications in constitutions or laws adopted by the government – and customary law. [83] Codifications date back millennia, with an early example being the Babylonian Codex Hammurabi. Modern civil law systems derive essentially from legal systems promulgated by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I in the 6th century and rediscovered by Italy in the 11th century. [84] Roman law at the time of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire was highly procedural and lacked a professional legal class. [85] Instead, a lay judge, iudex, was chosen to rule. Decisions were not systematically published, so that any case law that developed was obscured and almost unrecognized. [86] Each case should be redecided from state laws, reflecting the (theoretical) insignificance of judges` decisions for future cases in today`s civil justice systems. From 529 to 534 AD, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I codified and consolidated Roman law, so that only one-twentieth of the mass of legal texts of the past remained. [87] This corpus became known as the Corpus Juris Civilis.
As one legal historian wrote, “Justinian consciously looked back at the golden age of Roman law and sought to bring it back to the peak it had reached three centuries earlier.” [88] The Justinian Codex remained in force in the East until the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Western Europe, on the other hand, relied on a mixture of Theodosian codices and Germanic customary law until the Justinian codex was rediscovered in the 11th century and researchers at the University of Bologna used it to interpret their own laws. [89] Civil codifications closely based on Roman law spread throughout Europe, as well as some influences of religious laws such as canon law, until the Enlightenment; In the 19th century, the France with the Civil Code and Germany with the Civil Code modernized their legal systems. Both codes influenced not only the legal systems of continental European countries (e.g. Greece), but also the Japanese and Korean legal traditions. [90] [91] Today, countries with civil justice systems range from Russia] and Turkey to most Central and Latin American countries. [92] Law is a system of rules created and applied by social or state institutions to regulate conduct,[2] and its precise definition has long been debated. [3] [4] [5] It has been variously described as a science[6][7] and the art of justice. [8] [9] [10] Laws enforced by the state may be enacted by a group legislature or by a single legislature, resulting in laws; by the executive by decrees and regulations; or established by precedent judges, usually in common law jurisdictions. Individuals can enter into legally binding contracts, including arbitration agreements, that provide alternative means of resolving disputes than traditional court proceedings. The creation of laws themselves may be influenced by a written or implied constitution and the rights encoded in it.
Law shapes politics, business, history and society in many ways and mediates relationships between people. Many Muslim countries have developed similar rules for legal education and the legal profession, but some still allow lawyers trained in traditional Islamic law to practice law in personal status courts. [158] In China and other developing countries, there are not enough professionally trained personnel to fill existing justice systems, and formal standards are proportionately more flexible. [159] The Old Testament dates back to 1280 B.C. AD and takes the form of moral imperatives as recommendations for a good society. The small Greek city-state, ancient Athens, dates back to the 8th century BC. Chr. was the first society based on broad involvement of its citizens, excluding women and the slave class. Athens, however, had no jurisprudence or a single word for “law,”[60] but rather relied on the threefold distinction between divine law (themis), human decree (nomos), and custom (díkē). [61] However, ancient Greek law contained important constitutional innovations in the development of democracy.
[62] Offences are considered offences not only against individual victims, but also against the community. [190] The state, usually with the assistance of the police, takes the lead in law enforcement, which is why cases in common law countries are called “The People v. or “R (for Rex or Regina) v…” Even lay jurors are often used to determine the guilt of defendants in matters of fact: jurors cannot change legal rules. Some developed countries still tolerate the death penalty for criminal activity, but the normal punishment for a crime will be jail, fines, government supervision (such as probation) or community service. Modern criminal law has been significantly influenced by the social sciences, particularly with respect to sentencing, legal research, legislation and rehabilitation. [197] Internationally, 111 countries are members of the International Criminal Court, which was created to convict people for crimes against humanity. [198] A legal procedure to deal with personal and corporate debt problems; in particular, a case filed under one of the chapters of title 11 of the United States Code. Some civil injustices are grouped together as torts in common law systems and torts in civil law systems. [206] To have committed an offence, one must have breached an obligation to another person or violated a pre-existing right.
A simple example could be accidentally hitting someone with a cricket ball. [207] Under the law of negligence, the most common form of tort, the injured person could seek compensation from the party liable for his or her damages. The principles of negligence are exemplified by Donoghue v. Stevenson. [208] A friend of Donoghue ordered an opaque bottle of ginger beer (for Donoghue consumption) from a café in Paisley. After consuming half of it, Donoghue poured the rest into a cup. The decomposing remains of a snail floated. She claimed to have suffered shock from being sick with gastroenteritis and sued the manufacturer for carelessly contaminating the drink. The House of Lords ruled that the manufacturer was responsible for Ms. Donoghue`s illness.
Lord Atkin took a clearly moral approach, saying: Roman law was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, but its detailed rules were developed by professional jurists and were very demanding. [63] [64] In the centuries between the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, law was adapted to changing social situations and comprehensively codified under Theodosius II and Justinian I. [65] Although codes were replaced by customary law and jurisprudence in the early Middle Ages, Roman law was introduced around the 11th century. It was rediscovered in the nineteenth century when medieval jurists began to study Roman codes and adapt their concepts to canon law. Birth of Common Juice.