The law and the Judges

Consider that you want to or already work in the legal field and want to move away. Or you own a business and want to expand it overseas. Our exercise is already demanding, particularly when confronted with the legal reality, but now add a pandemic. It leads to delays to projects and increased costs, but most important, their variations depend on

‘whether the relevant governing law is that of a common law or civil law jurisdiction.’1

In these situations it’s best to understand how the legal systems around the world work. The main characteristic is that they are governed either by common law or the civil law and, in some circumstances, by both.

I. Common law

A common law system refers to a body of laws that are interpreted by the courts2 to create legal precedents. That means that Judges have a significant role in shaping the laws because their decisions in higher courts are applied by the lower ones when deciding similar cases. Although the laws already exist because they are created by legislators, Judges interpret them according to the individual facts of the cases.

• Some of countries that use this legal system are the UK, the USA (except Louisiana), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India.
  

II. Civil Law

In civil law systems, emphasis is put on legislation as the primary source of law rather than on precedent. Its focus is on written statutes and other legal codes judges can only apply. Therefore, lawmakers, scholars, and legal experts hold much more influence over the process than them.

• Some of the countries that use the civil law system are Romania, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan, France, China and Spain.

III. Mixed legal systems

As presented, some countries can use two or more legal systems. Beyond civil and common law, there are customary law systems where the laws are made by way of custom (habit) and passed down through generations or religious legal systems where laws are the result of religious texts and traditions.

For more information on each country, websites such as uOttawa and GlobaLex offer precise legal systems classifications for the countries and their historical backgrounds.

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1. https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/guides/projects-delay-cost-claims-common-civil-law

2. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/common-law.asp