Legal Families

1. Types
   1. Civil
      1. Codified v. Uncodified
         1. Uncodified if not have civil code as center 4 all other leg.
      2. Franco -Roman
      3. Germ.
      4. Scandinavian
         1. No comprehensive code but smaller scale codes
         2. Transf. piece of leg. 2 each country 4 busi.
         3. Sweden most imp.
            1. Three stt's like Const.
               1. Instrument of govt
               2. Act of succession 4 King
               3. Act 4 free press
            2. Ombudsman
               1. Takes complaints & watches govt 4 parliament, competition, & free press
   2. C /L
      1. Countries such as US, Eng., Australia, Etc.
   3. Soc. Countries
      1. Govt reg's all
      2. Civil law & codification influences
   4. Relig. / Islamic
      1. Countries such as Iran, Arabs, & Former French Colonies
      2. Law based on Koran / revelation not rsn
   5. Trad.'al
      1. Tribes in Africa
      2. Asia where introd. W law on surface but follow trad. of own law
         1. Jap. took Germ. codes but ord. cit. still take prob. 2 elders
2. Criteria 2 Disting. Families
   1. Origins of Law
   2. Org. of Law
   3. Style of Legal Sys.
      1. Historical devt
      2. Peculiar charact's
         1. French w/brief cods
         2. Islam where Khadi talks 2 God 2 dec. cases
      3. Source of legal devt / ideology
      4. Liberalism
      5. Indiv's autonomy
      6. Relig. origin
      7. Culture
   4. Dif. Approaches
      1. Prof'l so law on top of politics
      2. Polit. interference
      3. Trad'al

Charact's of C/L & Civil Law

1. Civil Law
   1. Rule Oriented
   2. Codes & Gen. Concepts
      1. Abstract gen. lang. in codes 2 go beyond partic. facts
      2. Sys. approach w/concept of person, things, axn, & oblgn
      3. Gaps in codes filled by local customs / unwritten rules
   3. Judges Interp. Law
      1. No legal oblgn 2 follow precedents but gen'ly follow
      2. Start w/codes & only bring in cases 2 interp. codes
      3. Codes R gen. so can go beyond positive law
   4. Commentaries 4 Sections
      1. Look @ treatises, textbks, & commentaries 2 dec. cases
   5. History of Codification in Euro.
      1. In 17th & 18th Cent.
         1. Scholars adopted & modernize Roman law by systematization
      2. Enlightenment of 19th Cent.
         1. Codification w/rsn & Roman law
         2. Parliament passed leg. & judges only interp.
      3. Unification & Harmonization of Euro. After WW's
         1. World Cong. in 1900
            1. Unify busi. law
2. C /L
   1. Fact Oriented
   2. Cases
      1. Jud'al dec's R law in itself
      2. Dec. partic. case by specif. facts
      3. Judges legally bound 2 follow precedents & have stare decisis
         1. Self imposed restraint
         2. Judges still give other rsns 4 dec'ing case anyway
   3. Stt's / Codes
      1. Specif. 2 fill gaps in cases 4 remedy approach
      2. Used 2 connect 2 cases
      3. Strict construction of stt's b/c judges got pwr before leg.
   4. History of Precedent Doctrine
      1. In early 19th cent., judges made this doc. b/c didn't want leg'ors in Eng. 2 have pwr
      2. Same X as Enlightenment, so tried 2 make law predictable
3. Mixed Jxn's
   1. Philippine
   2. British Guyana

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Ms. Haeji Hong

10/26/1997