All legal systems deal with the same fundamental issues, but jurisdictions categorize and identify their legal issues in different ways. A common distinction is made between “public law” (a term closely associated with the state and encompassing constitutional, administrative and criminal law) and “private law” (which includes contracts, torts and property). [171] In civil law systems, contract and tort are governed by a general law of obligations, while the law of trusts is governed by law or international conventions. International law, constitutional and administrative law, criminal law, contracts, tort, property law and trusts are considered the “traditional commodities”,[172] although there are many other disciplines. The English text of the CC BY-SA and GFDL licenses is the only legally binding restriction between authors and users of Wikipedia content. The following is our interpretation of CC BY-SA and GFDL with respect to the rights and obligations of users and contributors. After accreditation, a lawyer often works in a law firm, in a chamber as an individual practitioner, in a government position, or in a private company as an in-house lawyer. In addition, a lawyer can become a legal researcher who offers legal research on demand through a library, commercial service, or freelance work. Many people with legal training use their skills entirely outside the legal field. [160] Until the 18th century, Sharia law was practiced throughout the Muslim world in an uncodified form, with the Mecelle Code of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century being an early attempt to codify elements of Sharia law. Since the mid-1940s, efforts have been made country after country to adapt Sharia law more closely to modern conditions and ideas. [114] [115] In modern times, the legal systems of many Muslim countries are based on civil and customary traditions as well as Islamic law and custom. The constitutions of some Muslim states, such as Egypt and Afghanistan, recognize Islam as the state religion and require legislators to adhere to Sharia law.
[116] Saudi Arabia recognizes the Koran as its constitution and is governed on the basis of Islamic law. [117] Iran also experienced a repetition of Islamic law in its legal system after 1979. [118] In recent decades, one of the fundamental features of the Islamic revival movement has been the call for the restoration of Sharia law, which has produced much literature and influenced world politics. [119] This is a sortable table of documents used in court cases that cite Wikipedia as a source. It can also include important regulatory or administrative government decisions, as well as landmark decisions in languages other than English. Roman law was strongly influenced by Greek philosophy, but its detailed rules were drawn up by professional jurists and were very demanding. [63] [64] In the centuries between the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, law was adapted to changing social situations and comprehensively codified under Theodosius II and Justinian I. [65] Although codes were replaced by customary law and jurisprudence in the early Middle Ages, Roman law was introduced around the 11th century. It was rediscovered in the nineteenth century when medieval jurists began to study Roman codes and adapt their concepts to canon law. Birth of Common Juice. For guidance, Latin legal maxims (called brocades) have been compiled. In medieval England, royal courts developed a precedent that later became common law.
A pan-European law merchant was created so that traders could trade with common standards of practice, rather than the many fragmented facets of local laws. The merchant of rights, the forerunner of modern commercial law, emphasizes freedom of contract and the alienability of property. [66] As nationalism grew in the 18th and 19th centuries, the merchant of rights was incorporated into the local law of countries under new civil laws. The Napoleonic and German codes became the most influential. Unlike English common law, which consists of huge volumes of case law, codes in small books are easy to export and easy for judges to use. Today, however, there are signs that civil law and common law are converging. [67] EU law is codified in the Treaties, but develops through a de facto precedent set by the Court of Justice of the European Communities. [68] Attempts to resolve disputes through dispute resolution procedures often result in a solution without recourse to the law. If dispute resolution procedures do not resolve your issue and you decide to take legal action, you do so knowing that you have taken all reasonable steps to resolve the situation amicably.
Religious law is explicitly based on religious commandments. Examples include Jewish halacha and Islamic Sharia – both of which translate to “way forward” – while Christian canon law also survives in some religious congregations. Often the implication of religion for law is immutable, because the Word of God cannot be changed or laws made by judges or governments. [105] However, a complete and detailed legal system generally requires human elaboration. For example, the Qur`an has a certain law, and it acts as a source for other laws by interpretation,[106] Qiyas (reasoning by analogy), Ijma (consensus) and precedent. This is mainly contained in a set of laws and regulations known as Sharia or fiqh. Another example is the Torah or the Old Testament in the Pentateuch or the five books of Moses. It contains the basic code of Jewish law used by some Israeli communities. Halakha is a code of Jewish law that summarizes some of the interpretations of the Talmud. Nevertheless, Israeli law only allows litigants to enforce religious laws if they wish. Canon law is used only by members of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion.
Ancient India and China represent different legal traditions and had historically independent schools of legal theory and practice. The Arthashastra, probably compiled around 100 AD (although it contains older material), and the Manusmriti (c. 100-300 AD) were founding treatises in India and include texts considered authoritative. [69] Manu`s central philosophy was tolerance and pluralism and was cited throughout Southeast Asia. [70] During the Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent, Sharia law was introduced by Muslim sultanates and empires, notably by Fatawa-e-Alamgiri of the Mughal Empire, compiled by Emperor Aurangzeb and various scholars of Islam. [71] [72] In India, the Hindu legal tradition and Islamic law were replaced by the common law when India became part of the British Empire. [73] Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Hong Kong have also adopted the common law system. The East Asian legal tradition reflects a unique blend of secular and religious influences. [74] Japan was the first country to begin modernizing its Western-style legal system by importing parts of the French, but especially the German Civil Code.
[75] This partly reflected Germany`s status as a rising power in the late 19th century. Similarly, in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, traditional Chinese law gave way to Westernization in the form of six private law codes based primarily on the Japanese model of German law. [76] Today, Taiwanese law has the greatest affinity with the codifications of this period, due to the split between Chiang Kai-shek`s nationalists, who took refuge there, and Mao Zedong`s communists, who took control of the mainland in 1949. The current legal infrastructure of the People`s Republic of China has been heavily influenced by Soviet socialist law, which essentially inflates administrative law to the detriment of private law rights. [77] Due to rapid industrialization, China is now in a process of reform, at least in terms of economic, if not social, and political rights. A new treaty law in 1999 marked a move away from administrative dominance. [78] Moreover, after fifteen years of negotiations, China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. [79] Legal research to determine the current state of the law is important to legal practice in the common law tradition.