Civil Law And Common Law

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Comparison between Civil Law and Common Law The legal system is a broad term that describes the laws we have, the process for making those laws, and the process for making sure the laws are followed. Civil law has its features complied and codified into a collection for ready reference. It is inspired by the Roman law. On the other hand, common law has its rules and regulations administered by judges and vary on a case-to-case basis. The civil law is based on the theory of separation of powers, whereby the role of legislator is to legislate, while the courts should apply the law. On the other hand, in common law the courts are given the main task in creating the law. One of the main differences between the civil law and common law systems is the binding force of precedents. While the courts in the civil law system have as their main task deciding particular cases by applying and interpreting legal norms, in the common law the courts are supposed not only to decide disputes between particular parties but also to provide guidance as to how similar disputes should be settled in the future. The interpretation of a legislation given by a court in specific case is binding on lower courts, so that under common law the court decisions still make the basis for interpretation of legislation. On the other hand, the common law system is the facts of particular cases have much less relevance as against the general interpretation of the code. It is more likely that a civil law judge looking at a law report will pay considerable attention to the wording of the head note summarising what a particular court decided, rather than treating it as a convenient summary of the facts which then require analysis as part of the technique of the doctrine of precedent. In fact some jurisdictions do not even quote from their own previous decisions when rendering a judgment in a

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