Common Law And Civil Law

Common law is formed on the basis that courts will make decisions based on past judgments (Letwin, 2011). Cases with similar circumstances will be ruled in the saw way. In most cases the common law will combine with statutory and constitutional law in order to make decisions. Common law bases on the fact that court cases will be primarily ruled on precedent (Aspen Publishers, 2010). The common law is crucial to understanding almost all important

Under the Civil Law system, the laws are written and codified that the judges have to follow verbatium. Whereas, under the common law system that is followed by Australia, India and the United Kingdom, the laws are codified, doctrine of precedents is followed but the higher courts have the power to over-rule old judgements and existing law in cases where the law breaches the basic structure. (Peterson)

Historically, common law emphasized the importance of judicial decisions rather than utilizing the structure of codes, legal rules, and statutes as courts do today. In the past, judges documented and issued their decisions which were later circulated from one court to another and became known as common law. In cases where parties disagreed, common law court would look at previous decisions made in related cases and incorporate those decisions into the current case (Siegel, et al., 2011). If similar disputes had been resolved in the previous case, the court would utilize the same perspective to resolve their current case. This became known as precedent and like common law, continues to be utilized in today’s court system (Siegel, et al., 2011).

Common law is the system of laws, which originated and were developed in England, that are “based on court decisions, on the doctrines implicit in those decisions, and on customs and usages rather than on codified written laws” (Melvin, 2011). In other words, common law is law that is made by judges not by the legislature. It is law that is based on court precedent and it evolves over time. Statutory law, which is also referred to as statute law “is written law established by enactments

To begin, common law originated in Medieval England in the time of King Henry II. The practice developed sending circuit judges from the King’s central court to travel throughout England to hear the various disputes. The aim of these courts (assizes) was to add consistency and fairness to the legal system. Alongside the traveling courts King Henry also established the jury system. Over time these judges recorded the information of each case they heard as well as the decisions and punishments that were ordered. This is known as case law or common law. This began a justice system that relied on the principle of stare decisis or “to stand by the decision”. This principle developed into the rule of precedent which was used to apply the previous decision to a case with similar circumstance. This system was used throughout the country and thus was known as common law. As the English began colonizing Canada they brought their legal systems with them, which greatly influenced today’s legal system.

Common law is law originating from use and custom rather than from written statutes. The term refers to non-statutory customs, traditions, and precedents that help guide judicial decision making (Schmalleger). The judge

Common law in Canada is based on precedent, which mean that common law uses previous events or situations to guide court decisions going forward. Precedent is ‘binding on other equal or lower courts in the same jurisdiction as to its conclusion on a point of law, and may also be persuasive to courts in other jurisdictions, in subsequent cases involving sufficiently similar facts’; therefore, common law is not based on interpretation. Common law is created from precedent alone. Common law is used in areas like contract law, tort law, and property law. There may be written statutes in these areas of law; more often than not, the judge’s decision is based on precedent rather than a statute.

Professor Compagnoni effectively outlined the characteristics of different legal systems in Class IV, and rereading her class slides was helpful in understanding the subtleties of legal system associated with my source text, French Civil Law, based on the Napoleonic code (code civil of 1804). I then related that to the legal system as it functions in Canada, making note of the most prominent differences, and being cognizant of those as I embarked upon my translation. N.B.: In my view, the term "legal system" refers to the nature and content of the law generally, and the structures and methods whereby it is legislated upon, adjudicated upon and administered, within a given jurisdiction. Common law and civil law legal traditions share similar social objectives (individualism, liberalism and personal rights), but they diverge in several key areas.

The term common law defines a legal system commonly known as common law legal system (Smith, L., 2011). Various countries manage the common law legal system since the English legal system models their legal system. The common law legal system handles matters such as jury trials, and presumption of innocence. The Uniform Commercial Code is a business law that provides delineation concerning the passage of the title from the seller to the buyer.

Common law relies on precedents set by other courts (QuickMBA, 2010). In applying this law, judges refer to the findings and rulings of other courts (QuickMBA, 2010). This law is mostly used in state courts (QuickMBA, 2012). The origins of this practice can be traced back to the 13th century, when the royal judges began writing their decisions and the reasons that informed them (QuickMBA, 2012). The Common law is often applied in solving cases involving schools. These cases revolve around the freedom of expression.

Most nations today follow one of two major legal traditions; Common law tradition or civil law tradition. The Common law is a body of law bases on custom and general principles embodied in case law which serve as precedent and is applied to situations not covered by statute. The common law traditions emerged in England during the middle ages and was applied within the British colonies across continents.

The Civil law is different from Common law systems in many areas. Source of law is one of the important part from each legal system in the world. Source of law is the fundamental different between both of them. In civil law the prime source or basis of the law is legislation, and big areas are codified in a systematic manner, these codes shape a very distinctive feature of a Romanist legal system, or the so-called civil law, although in the form of statutes duly enacted by the proper legislative procedure, the courts should apply the law, statutes and codes. In civil-law systems, by opposite, codes and statutes are created to cover all eventualities and judges have a more restricted role of applying the law to the case in hand, past judgments are no more than loose guides. The legislation helps judges to end issues when come to the court.

Common law has roots in the English system of law, it developed in England following the Norman conquest of A.D. 1066, which became Common Law which was the body of the legal decision that were made by the English court judges. This law started out was an oral law decision making that resulted in the court judges walking around the country that would go town to town to try cases. This was the nicknamed the “unwritten law” which resulted in the oral law that served as the precedent for deciding successive cases with the same type of facts, and this lead to the doctrine called star decisis which meant to “stand by a decision which was previously decided. This doctrine was the one that gave way to a rule that prior law decision made was to be followed, unless it is turned over with a new rule established if there is no good reason to do so. So in terms that are easy to understand, if society changes can decide that if a precedent is no longer valid, a court of law may decide that a precedent is simply incorrect and will adjust accordingly.

“Omission” is a phrase that is only used correctly when there is a failure to commit an act, or do a minimal act to which a reasonable person may be expected to do. This essay will show that the exceptions added to the “checklist” of omissions should exist, and argue that having no liability for omissions is defensible.

Common law - that part of the English law not embodied in legislation. It consists of rules of law based on common custom and usage and on judicial court decisions. English common law became the basis of law in the USA and many other English-speaking countries.