What do you know about the common-law system and the civil law system?

Which legal system operates in your country?

Vocabulary notes:

legal system	правова система
form of government	форма державного правління
common-law system	система загального права
civil law	римське цивільне право
case law	прецедентне право
statutes	статут, законодавчий акт
codes	кодекс
to apply the law system	застосовувати правову систему
basic ingredient	основні складові частини
court decision	судове рішення
legal precedent	судові прецеденти
private law	приватне право
contract law	договірне право
property law	право власності
public law	публічне право
estate in land	нерухомість
personal property	особиста власність
bailment	звільнення під заставу
to decide court cases	вирішувати судові справи
to overrule / to reject precedents	відхиляти / відміняти прецедент
to adopt a common-law system	прийняти систему загального права
to encompass	здійснювати
to predicate (upon)	базуватися (на)
to compensate smb. for the loss	компенсувати втрати
labo(u)r-management relations	трудові відносини між адміністрацією та профспілками (на підприємстві)
to assemble statutes into codes	укласти закони у кодекс
to confuse with	заплутати
to refer to precedents	звертатися до прецеденту
to combine features of both systems	поєднувати риси обох систем
to deal with matters	мати справу з питанням

 

SYSTEMS OF LAW

Every independent country has its own legal system. The systems vary according to each country’s social traditions and form of government. But most systems can be classed as either (1) a common-law system or (2) a civil law system. The United States, Canada, Great Britain, and other English-speaking countries have a common-law system. Most other countries have a civil law system. Many countries combine features of both systems.

Common-law system is based largely on case law – that is, on court decisions. The common-law system began in England many hundreds of years ago. The English called their system the common-law because it applied throughout the land.

English common-law developed from the rules and principles that judges traditionally followed in deciding court cases. Judges based their decisions on legal precedents – that is, on earlier court rulings in similar cases. But judges could expand precedents to make them suit particular cases. They could also overrule (reject) any precedents that they considered to be in error or outdated. In this way, judges changed many laws over the years. The common-law thus came to be law made by judges.

However, some common-law principles proved too precious to change. For example, a long line of hard-won precedents the rights and liberties of citizens against the unjust use of government power. England – and other common-law countries – have kept these principles almost unchanged. The United States, Canada, and other countries that were colonized by England based their national legal systems on the common-law. In addition, every state in the United States except Louisiana and every Canadian province except Quebec adopted a common-law system. Louisiana and Quebec were colonized by France, rather then England, and their legal systems are patterned after the French civil law system.

Case law is still important in common-law countries. However, the lawmaking role of legislatures in these countries has increased greatly during the 1900’s. For example, the United States Congress has made major changes in American contract and property law. The changes have dealt, for example, with such matters as labor-management relations, workers’ wages and hours, health, safety, and environmental protection. Nevertheless, common-law countries have kept the basic feature of the English legal system, which is the power of judges to make laws. In addition, constitutional law in these countries continues the common-law tradition of defending the people’s rights and liberties.

Civil law system is based mainly on statutes (legislative acts). The majority of civil law countries have assembled their statutes into one or more carefully organized collections called codes. Civil law originated in ancient Rome. The principles and rules of Roman law were based partly on legislation and partly on utterances of great legal scholars who were routinely asked for their opinions by judicial officers confronting difficult legal issues in the determination of lawsuits. In the 6^th century, a commission appointed by the Emperor Justinian collected and consolidated all the sources of law. The result was the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law), also called the Justinian Code, a comprehensive code embodying the accumulated wisdom and experience of many generations of Roman jurists.

Civil law is used in those countries in which the legal system is based on ancient Roman law as modified by medieval and modern influences. It is used in most nations of Europe and Latin America, as well as in some countries in Asia and Africa. The law of Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and a number of other nations is based on English common law, which differs from civil law in origin and other important aspects.

Much more systematically than common law, civil law separates public and private law. In most civil law nations public-law disputes are determined by administrative courts, which are separated from the ordinary courts that have jurisdiction over private-law disputes and criminal cases. In common-law countries private- and public - law disputes are usually determined by the same courts.

Trial by jury, a major feature of the common-law system, is not often used in civil law. In some civil law countries laypersons participate in the adjudication of criminal cases. However, they do not sit as jurors but act as judges who, together with professional judges, decide on the innocence or the guilt of accused and on the sentence to be imposed.

The approaches of the two types of legal systems differ, for example, in matters of contractual law and freedom of testation. In civil law systems the principle of freedom of contract is implemented by upholding almost all promises and by enforcing penalty clauses. Freedom of testation, on the other hand, is more restricted in civil law nations, where the testator’s children – and not only a surviving spouse – receive a certain portion of a parent’s estate regardless of the provisions of the will.

The differences between civil law and common law, however, should not be overstated. Despite divergences in methods and technology, a basic similarity is found in the ultimate results reached by both systems.

Most modern law codes can be traced back to the famous code that was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Justinian I in the AD 500’s. Justinian’s code updated and summarized the whole of Roman law. It was called the Corpus Juris Civils, meaning Body of Civil Law. For this reason, legal systems that are based on the Roman system of statute and code law are known as civil law systems. This use of the term civil law should not be confused with its use as an alternate term for private law. Civil law systems include both private law and public law.

In civil law countries, which include France and Mexico, the statutes, rather than the courts, provide the final answer to any question of law. Judges may refer to precedents in making their decisions. But they must base every decision on a particular statute and not on precedent alone.

Other systems. Many countries have patterned their legal system after both civil law and common law. For example, Japan and most Latin-American nations have assembled all their private law into a code. But public law in these countries has been greatly influenced by common-law principles, especially those that guarantee the rights and liberties of the people.

Task 1. Give English equivalents of the following words and expressions:

законодавчий орган; захищати права людей; система загального права; система цивільного права; право власності; захист довкілля; дотримуватися принципів і правил (нормативних актів); правова система; право, засноване на судовій практиці; розв’язувати судові справи; римське цивільне право; створювати/видавати закони; подолати/переглядати прецеденти; судові рішення; форма державного правління; повноваження суддів; трудові відносини між адміністрацією і профспілками (на підприємстві); збирати законодавчі акти в кодекси; французька система цивільного права; запроваджувати систему загального права.

 

Task 2. Translate the following words and expressions:

commercial paper; приватна власність; to provide punishment for violation of law; загальні правила поведінки; personal property; створювати закони; to decide lawsuits; вести судовий процес; to take an appeal; виконати судове рішення; to breach an agreement; запроваджувати систему загального права; legal principals; мати право на відшкодування збитків; to overrule precedents; правопорушення; rules of law; private law; публічне право.

Task 3. Translate the following expressions into Ukrainian:

to understand the many different aspects of law; there are many legal principles; in order to decide lawsuits; how the trial is conducted; how appeals are taken; rights are enforced and protected; A claims that B has breached the agreement; they constitute procedural law; the agreement was enforceable; substantive law of contracts; areas of public and private law; bodies of law; the multitude of administrative agencies; general maxims; to provide punishment for violation of these laws; to be subdivided into the subjects; a part of the total body of law; civilized society people; property is the basic ingredient in our economic system.

 

Task 4. Match the following words and expressions with their Ukrainian equivalents:

 

1. to adopt a common-law system	a. творити / видавати закони
2. common-law system	b. форма державного правління
3. court rulings	c. трудові відносини між адміністрацією та профспілками (на підприємстві)
4. legal precedents	d. повноваження суддів
5. to follow rules	e. розв’язувати судові справи
6. environmental protection	f. судові рішення
7. to decide court cases	g. захищати свободи громадян
8. labor-management relations	h. судові прецеденти
9. form of government	i. система загального права
10. power of judges	j. охорона довкілля
11. to overrule precedents	k. запроваджувати систему звичаєвого права
12. to apply systems	l. подолати / переглядати прецеденти
13. to defend liberties of citizens	m. дотримуватися правових норм
14. to make law	n. застосовувати системи

 

Task 5. Give Ukrainian equivalents for the following words and translate the definitions into Ukrainian:

legal system	all the institutions, bodies of laws and principles, ideas, methods, procedures, traditions and practices which together form an organized system for the application of law in a State or community;
ruling	a decision made by a judge, tribunal, etc.;
precedent	a judicial decision that furnishes a rule or model for deciding a subsequent case that presents the same or a similar legal problem;
code	a systematic, written collection of laws on a particular subject or area of law;
legislature	the supreme body with responsibility and authority to pass a law or laws for a political unit such as a State;
statute	a legislative body’s written enactment (a law made by a legislative body or a part of such a law), expressed in whatever form necessary to make it binding.

Ex. 6. Give definitions in English to the following terms:

a rule	a ruling
a code	a statute
Common law system	Civil law system

Task 7. Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian:

1. The law is a civilizing influence within a society.

2. The law must have something to do with rules and their enforcement.

3. English common-law developed from the rules and principles that judges traditionally followed in deciding court cases.

4. Judges could expand precedents to make them suit particular cases and also overrule (reject) any precedents that they considered to be in error or outdated.

5. Civil law is sometimes called private law for the obvious reason of its content.

6. The approaches of the two types of legal systems differ, for example, in matters of contractual law and freedom of testation

7. The majority of civil law countries have assembled their statutes into one or more carefully organized collections called codes.

8. In some civil law countries laypersons participate in the adjudication of criminal cases.

Task 8. Identify “adverbs” structures and translate the sentences into Ukrainian:

 

1. In spite of its being directly applicable, the courts are used to treating the Convention as a subsidiary source of law.

2. This deceptively simple idea has profound social and political consequences.

3. No sooner had the new conditions been established than prisoners began complaining about their human rights.

4. In today’s world, a consistent pattern of gross human rights violations is widely perceived to undermine a regime’s national and international legitimacy.

5. With the Cold War, however, human rights increasingly became just another weapon of ideological struggle.

6. It goes without saying that an international court could not function efficiently if it had to work in such a large number of languages.

7. Committees are an important feature in the new structure as they are responsible for much of the filtering formerly carried out by the Commission.

8. Since the Court is still a transitional phase it is too early yet to give any indication how this shift from Chamber to Grand Chamber will be managed by the Panel.

9. Her guilt hasn’t been proved evidentially, so she is unlikely to be convicted.

10. He was evidently upset by the news of the accident.

Task 9. Explain the meanings of the following expressions from the text. Make sentences with each of them:

· common-law country;

· civil law country;

· private law;

· public law;

· case law.

 

Task 10. Read the text carefully and decide if the following statements are true or false. Add some other information:

1. Legal systems depend on a country’s form of government.

2. The two great systems of law have spread over Europe.

3. The common-law systems are based on legislative acts.

4. The civil law systems are based on court decisions.

5. Most countries combine features of both systems.

6. English common law is “judge made” law.

7. In common-law countries statutes have been assembled into codes.

8. Modern law codes can be traced back to Justinian’s code.

9. Civil law is an alternative term for private law.

10. Other systems have been influenced by common-law principles.

Task 11. Use the information given in the text to answer the following questions. Discuss your answers with other members of the group:

1. Which legal systems are the most widespread?

2. What are common-law systems based on?

3. What are civil law systems based on?

4. What is the gist of English common law?

5. Have common law principles remained unchanged?

6. Which countries are common-law countries?

7. Which countries are civil law countries?

8. What is the role of legislatures in common-law countries?

9. What is called a law code?

10. What are the most modern law codes influenced by?

11. Which branches of law do civil law systems include?

Task 12. Read the text again and pick out the main points about the common-law and civil law systems.

 

Task 13. On the basis of the information above discuss the most important differences between the two systems of law.

 

Task 14. Translate the text into English:

Кожна незалежна країна має свою правову систему. Правові системи залежать від традицій та форм правління. Більшість систем можна поділити на систему загального права та систему римського права.

Система загального права почала розвиток в Англії сотні років тому. Вона базується, в основному, на прецедентному праві, правилах та принципах, яких традиційно дотримувались судді у вирішенні судових справ, тобто на рішеннях суду. Судді могли розширювати або відміняти прецедент, якщо вважали його помилковим чи застарілим. Таким чином загальне право – це право створене суддями.

Система римського права базується на статутах (законодавчих актах). Система римського права походить з древнього Риму. Більшість країн римського права уклали законодавчі акти у кодекси. У країнах римського права статути, а не суди, надають кінцеву відповідь на будь-яке правове питання. Судді можуть звертатися до прецедента у прийнятті рішення, але вони повинні базуватись у своїх рішеннях на певному статуті, а не на прецеденті.

Інші правові системи зазнали впливу як системи загального права, так і римського права.

Task 15. Role play.