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The Benefits of Common Law or Civil Law Could Be Brought Together If Governments Wanted.

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Although many nations in the world have primarily opted for common law or civil law as the basis of their legal systems, in some countries both systems coexist.

Given the difference in legal philosophy, this latter case may be something of a legal love-hate relationship.

On the one hand common law systems rely on judgments made in individual courts to define the body of the law.

On the other hand, civil law looks to centrally defined statutes as the definitive reference for any case to be heard or tried.

Historically, common law was developed in England and exported to the different countries that formed parts of the British Empire.

Civil law on the other hand was a product of the Roman Empire and as such spread to countries where the Roman influence was strongest or most appreciated.

France is a prime example of such a country, where much of the law refers back to what is called the Napoleonic code, which is a civil law system.

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When Parallel Systems Exist in the Same Country

This means that a nation such as Canada ends up with effectively two parallel legal systems, one based on common law because of links and heritage from Britain and the other based on civil law because of the French influence.

State by state, the situation between common law or civil law is a little clearer.

Common law is today applied in most of the states in Canada that were colonized or ruled by the British in times gone by.

This only leaves the State of Quebec that has not adopted the system of common law.

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Efforts to Bring Two Legal Systems Together

Modifications were made recently with the constitutional law of 1982, which gave Canadian tribunals the responsibility of insuring that laws did not interfere with individual rights.

This was a measure that was inspired by a similar act being passed in the United States.

In Canada’s case, the legal system is now a mix of British-inspired common law, second-generation American common law and French inspired civil law.

Although there are differences as mentioned above between common law and civil law, there might also in theory be enough commonality between the systems for a single legal system to be defined and applied.

In Canada the divide between common law or civil law persists between the traditionally French speaking and English speaking states.

In the United States, similar differences may be found from one state to another.

Each state has the possibility to enact laws of its own which may be different from those of its neighbors.

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Take the Best of Both Worlds

In Britain, where common law started, parliament retains a certain amount of central control concerning laws to be passed and applied on a nationwide basis.

If civil law systems were to extend or devolve part of the law making apparatus to qualified individuals in the field, it might be possible to have these two major systems converge on a universally acceptable compromise.

Among other things, in the debate on common law or civil law this would help to bring various communities such as the French speaking and English speaking communities of Canada to come closer together.

It would also provide the possibilities of improvement to the model already used in the United States where citizens officially appointed to the position of judge on a local basis work together with the central lawmaking machinery to apply justice throughout the land.

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