Leonardo Acosta

Dr. Delaney

Business Law

February 13, 2020

Common and civil law

Countries rule their people through legal systems that would be common or civil

systems depending on the country. According to Delaney, common and civil law are

frameworks that countries use to enforce their laws and procedures. Each country has a

system. Common and civil law are the major systems in the world. To understand these

systems, we will look for its origin, sources, roles of the judge, and longevity. These

aspects will help us to understand how to do common, and civil law systems work in

society. Common and civil law are guidelines that help people to live within the law

respecting other’s rights and helping governments to enforce its law and procedures.

Civil law is who determines duties between a person and society. According to

Delaney, the origin of civil law occurred under the order of the Emperor Justinian

which is based on Roman Empire codes with Napoleonic reforms in which the

governing rules of society are set forth in codes usually enacted into law by a

legislature. The sources for civil law are based on statutes and codes. Statute is the law

passed by legislative body – for example, 35% of taxes if you win $150,000. Code is a

group of statutes organized together by subject matter – for example, Tax code. The

role of the judge is to interpret the code and apply but not to develop own law or depart

from code which mean that the judge cannot have the liberty to take the decision out of

the code if it is necessary. The longevity of the civil law codes usually unmodified for

long period of time which means that codes do not change and the only way they can

change if the legislator rewrite by the legal process.

 During decades, common law became the system which ruled society in several

countries around the world. According to Delaney, the origin of common law is based

on English Empire in which governing rules of society are derived from both statutes

enacted by the legislative, judgements of court enforcing customs and usages in

relationship to statutes and prior cases. The sources for common law are statutes,

codes, and cases. Statute is the law passed by legislative body. Codes is a group of

statutes organized together by subject matter. Cases are prior judicial decisions. The

role of the judge is to interpret the code and apply law, but may depart from the code if

supported by reason, logic, justice, and precedent (previous judicial decision). The

longevity of the common law codes is usually unmodified for a shorter period.

The difference between common and civil law occurs with the role of the judges

and longevity. According to Delaney, civil law judges only interpret and apply law no

matter if the plaintiff has enough reasonable arguments. On the other hand, common

law judges can depart from the code, and they can support their decision based on

reason, logic, justice, and precedent. In common law, if the plaintiff has reasonable

arguments, the judge can base his decision on previous cases, or he can establish a

precedent. Also, common law differs from civil law in the longevity where the civil law

is unmodified for long periods, and common law is unmodified in short periods.

In conclusion, countries apply either civil or common depending on the country

– for example, If Dr. Delaney has a car accident with her sister that is in labor. Still, she

needs to leave before the police come because she needs to leave her sister in the

hospital. Then, Dr. Delaney calls to the insurance company for the accident. The

company does not want to cover the crash because she left before the police report. Dr.

Delaney sue the insurance company, in a civil law system process, the judge only

applies the law no matter the arguments that Dr. Delaney has to leave the accident. She
will lose the lawsuit against the insurance company. On the other hand, in the common

law system process, If Dr. Delaney sue the company because of the accident, and the

company does not want to pay. Dr. Delaney can win the lawsuit because she has

reasonable arguments to leave the place of the accident, and the judges can depart from

the code, and they can support their decision based on reason, logic, justice, and

precedent. Now, we understand more in deep what are the differences between common

and civil law and what are their roles in society.

“I pledge upon my honor that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid

on this assignment.”

Leonardo Acosta
 References

Delaney, A. (2020, February 4) Common and civil law. Business Law Class.

Retrieved from: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_2CNrAEn2x6QveLHalO_IT2

-kKStMFfFx/view

Delaney, A. (2020, February 6) Common and civil law. Business Law Class.

Retrieved from:https://drive.google.com/file/d/10oTndW7q9CcHasd2JRHjdcLd-

SMuZJW02/view