Origin and Development of Civil law

• žthe most dominant system today, based on Roman law, in most of Europe,  all of central and South America, parts of Asia and Africa and even some area of Common law e.g. Louisiana, Quebec, Purtorico

• žThe development of civil law is based on the adaptation of Roman law during the medieval period

• žis not uniform - divided into four sub groups - French Civil Law, German Civil Law, Austrian Civil and Scandinavian Civil Law.

• žThe Romans developed one of the greatest legal systems in the world.

• žDespite the downfall of Roman Empire the influence of the Roman law did not vanish but continued in Europe.

• žMany of the Continental legal systems are built on the basis Roman law.

• ž But individual legal systems of the civil law family differ on the basis of reception of Roman laws (processing of legal theories or legislative act).

• žDespite of their difference, they share a common tradition which stands in contrast to common law tradition

SUB GROUPS

• žFrench Civil Law – France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Quebec (Canada), Louisiana (USA), Italy, Spain and former colonies of those countries

• žGerman Civil Law – Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Portugal, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, China

• žAustrian Civil Law – Austria, Czech republic, Slovakia, Greece, Serbia, Romania

• žScandinavian Civil Law – Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway

DEVELOPMENT

• žThe civil law  in Continental Europe was developed by the middle ages (5th to 15th century).

• žThe Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law-529-534), after the decline of Roman power, went into a period of oblivion (unconscious)

• ž but it was revived during 11th and 12th century Italy which contributed to the spread of Roman law in Europe.

 

• žAt that time, mastery of civil law was required to advance one's career in state and the church.

• žScholars known as Glossators (Commentator) made new commentaries on Roman law to fit it to the needs of their time.

• žIn many parts of Continental Europe the course of Roman law was introduced in the Universities

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• žDue to the revival of Roman law, it became the Common law of Continental Europe but the rise of Nationalism and Nation State system in Europe from 15th century onwards European nations were for the creation of national system of law

• žin the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries the European scholar studied their local customs in the light of Roman Law

• žas a result an amalgam of native customs and Roman law formed

• žthe Dutch jurists crated the Roman Dutch law; French jurists wrote similar treaties on French law based on Roman law

• žThe codification by Napoleon (1804) is a turning point in the development Civil Law system in the Continental Europe

• žThe Napoleon Code was followed by other European countries - Austrian civil code of 1811, Germany civil code of 1900

• žThe Civil law spread to Latin and Central America through the Spanish and Portuguese colonizers.

• žTurkey and Japan also adopted the civil law system.

• žJapan for example adopted the German Civil law as the model for its legal system

• žIt is older, more widely distributed and in many ways more influential than the common law

• žPublic International Law and the law of the EU are up to a great extent part of Civil law