The Nature of Civil Law

Civil Law, is a term applied to a legal tradition originating in ancient Rome and to the contemporary legal systems based on this tradition. Modern civil law systems, which were originally developed in Western European countries, have spread throughout the world. Civil law is typically contrasted with common law, a system that evolved in medieval England and that is the basis of law in most of the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.

The term civil law also applies to all legal proceedings (whether taking place in a civil law or a common law system) that are not criminal in nature. Under this definition laws regulating marriage, contracts, and payment for personal injury are examples of civil law.

The most obvious feature of a civil law system is the presence of a written code of law. The code is a systematic and comprehensive accumulation of legal rules and principles.

The civil law tradition traces its origin to the Roman Republic. The early custom and laws of Rome were put in writing for the first time in 451 and 450 bc, when they were inscribed on 12 bronze tablets. The principles contained within these Twelve Tables constituted the basis for all Roman civil law.

In compiling the Corpus Juris Civilis, Justinian sought to rescue the Roman legal system from years of deterioration and to restore it to its former glory. The vast quantity of material written on the civil law convinced him that the code should eliminate error, resolve conflicts.

The rise of nationalism that began in the 18th century led to the adoption of distinct civil codes for each European country, of which the French Code Napoléon of 1804 is the most famous. In the early 1900s Switzerland and Germany adopted similar codes. The subject matter of all these codes is almost identical with the first three books of the Corpus Juris Civilis.

The civil law tradition makes a sharp distinction between private and public law. Private law is the law that governs relations between private citizens and private businesses. When applied to financial and commercial transactions, it is known as commercial law. All other private law is known as civil law or labour law. Civil law refers to the law of persons, family law, marital property law, property law, contract law and tort law. Labour law regulates the relations of employers and their employees.

In general, public law regulates the relations between organs of the government and between the government and private citizens. Public law consists of matters that concern the government: constitutional law, criminal law, and administrative law, it also includes taxation and business licensing. In many countries with civil law systems, two sets of courts exist—those that hear public law cases and those that address matters of private law.