Civil legal systems are found in most of continental Europe, Central and South America and parts of Asia and Africa. Their origin can be dated back to about 450 BC and the creation of

law.

In the sixth century, the Emperor

ordered the preparation of a comprehensive manuscript covering all aspects of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis. The purpose was to

(set out in writing) all the laws that existed.

• Judges do not pay any part in developing or shaping the law.

• Legal representatives are inevitably opposed to one another because they are adversaries.

• Legal Codes created by Legislature.

• Non-existent Binding Precedent

• Lawyers who appear before the courts will search for earlier cases that have similar facts to the present case and use it as evidence.

A modern common law system will have:

– defined as ‘the whole system of government of a country, the collection of rules which establish and regulate or govern the government’ (Where cited in Barnett, 2013, p. 7).

• Judicial decisions that are

(although decisions of the highest court may be overturned by that court or by the legislature).

• Citizens who are permitted to do anything that is not

The main features of a modern civil law system include: • A written

based on specific

that set out and protect basic rights and duties.

• Binding legislation with little scope for judge-made law.

• In some civil law jurisdictions, e.g. Germany, highly influential writings of legal

(Laws created or developed by Universities/ Professors)

• A separate court for each code.

• Rights that are expressly conferred on citizens by the law.

Drawing on the Roman tradition, modern civil law systems are based on written codes, the contents of which vary between different states. The codes are divided into two types: 1) Codes

the law

and 2) Codes outlining

Roman law originated from general principles, and distinguished

(the law) from

(how the law is applied)

Roman laws covered areas such as: • persons (individuals were either free or slaves) • citizenship • Family (the father had absolute authority), marriage, divorce and concubinage. • property and possessions • delict and contract • Corporations (of which there were four broad types, including private organisations and charities).

In (Date)

the Council of Europe – which is a completely separate entity from the EU, even though many of the member states are the same – created the

(ECHR).

Until 1 October

the only way that a citizen of England or Wales could enforce these rights was to take a case to the (Court)

located in (Stras.....)

, which was a long, complex and expensive procedure.

On 2 October 2000,

(HRA 1998) came into force.

HRA 1998 provides that all UK courts must regard decisions of the European Court of

as persuasive precedents. It also requires the UK courts, as far as possible, to interpret domestic legislation in a way that is compatible with

(ECHR) rights.

If such an interpretation is not possible, the Court of (Ap..../ Sp)

or

Court must apply the domestic legislation, but may make a Declaration of Incompatibility, which empowers a Government Minister to amend the legislation without going through the full parliamentary process.

This image represents

receiving the Corpus

considered to be the foundation of

law, 529 AD.

Law is a set of

ules created by state institutions which make laws through the authority of the state. The laws have s....

which are recognised by the state and enforced by state-authorised bodies.