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you are here: > Self > 22. LEX
| 22.4 | Civil law |
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| Civil law is an ancient system dating back to Roman times whereby the essential laws of property, of person, of contracts and obligations were consolidated into one set of active laws, or codes, usually called the Civil Code. |
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| It is by and large the most commonly practiced system of law in the world, with almost 60% of the world's population living in a country ruled on the civil law system. |
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| 22.4.1 | The benefit of the Civil Law System |
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| The first and most obvious benefit of the Civil law system is that laws that are passed from time to time that affect the person, the rights of property, succession and obligation can be found in one consolidated place. |
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| This may not seem like a big deal, but in nations with a pure common law system and thousands of laws, the fact that one document exists with all the proper statutes in one place is a major advantage. |
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| The second major advantage of the civil law system is its speed. Civil law is, in theory, interpreted, not made, by judges. This means that a judge acting on a civil law case when making their judicial decision does not risk nullifying the effectiveness of a particular clause of a standing law. Whether by tradition or not, matters are handled within civil law systems generally at a greater pace. |
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| 22.4.2 | Negatives of the civil law system |
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| The first and by far the largest negative regarding civil law is the age of the actual code systems themselves used to make decisions. |
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| Some nations around the world still use civil codes that were first defined in the 19th Century, well before the equality of women and other major social changes took place. Others still refer back to the Justinian civil codes defined in the 6th century, which effectively “Christianized Roman law” and exempted the church from legal liability. |
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| Such ancient codes also have built in bias that actually reverse natural rules of justice such a the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair hearing, trial and appeal. |
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| Indeed, such ancient code systems do not reflect many of the contemporary challenges concerning property rights, obligations, succession and person. They are stuck in time, unable to be reformed without a major legal overhaul. | ||
| All of these factors which relate directly to the actual civil code used, not the system itself are used by supporters and attackers of civil law systems alike. |
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| Another attack of civil law is the actual speed of the system itself. Justice is often seen to be swift, without necessarily being fair. As a result, any people without the financial means to have proper representation are still even today railroaded through courts without fair, nor complete hearing. |
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| 22.4.3 | Solutions | |
| For all the positives and negatives of civil law, it is still a superior system to pure common law, providing the code architecture represents the 21st century rather than the 19th or 6th Century. |
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