UNIVERSITY OF GHANA- LEGON

LEGAL SYSTEM TUTORIAL

GLOVER PRINCE SENYO 10557804

QUESTION: Write out the features and difference between the civil law tradition and the
common law tradition

FEEATURES OF THE COMMON LAW TRADITION:

1) It is adversarial.
2) Decisions of the Supreme Court are binding on the lower courts.
3) The decisions of judges become legal principle applied to cases.
4) Equity and common law are the basic principles of the tradition.
5) It is based on experience rather than logic.
6) It has a uniform body for the court structure.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CIVIL LAW AND THE COMMON LAW TRADITIONS

1) The common law tradition recognizes two principles; custom and equity, whiles the civil
law tradition has codifications as its basic principle.
2) In the common law tradition, a new code of laws does not nullify the old one, meanwhile
in the civil law tradition; a new code of laws nullifies an old one.
3) In the common law tradition, law is tied to custom and thus exists by fact. While in the
civil law tradition, law exists because the authority in government has decreed it.
4) Under the common law tradition, judges’ decisions become applicable to subsequent
cases, as contrary to that of the civil law tradition where judges are denied to make laws
through jurisdiction.
5) In common law tradition, the principle of stare decisis ties the process to the basic tenet
of custom. In civil law tradition, a judge is supposed to be able to glean from the law
proper decision through logical deductions.