Four Codifications Of Civil Law

There are four major codifications of law that were involved in the history of Civil Law. They are Roman Law of Emperor Justinian, Canon Law of the Catholic Church, Napoleonic Code of the early 19th Century of France, and German Law. In the sixth century, Justinian arranged for the compilation and codification of law. This resulted in Corpus Juris Civilis, or the Institutes of Justinian. These were laws pertaining to family, property, torts, and contracts. The goal was to simplify massive amounts of legal materials. When the Institutes of Justinian came, all previous laws were disregarded. This code remained extremely influential. It became the basis of legal study in universities and the backbone of national legal systems during the development

Also, there were rules for church governance. Today, Canon law is still used for matters within the Catholic Church. The most common use of this law is to grant marriage annulments. Napoleonic Code has 2,281 rules. Napoleon made himself Emperor of France. He produced governmental reforms that changed the legal structure of France. This code was drawn up by legal experts, and went into effect in 1804. There were new ideas of private property and relations that were fueled by the Enlightenment. This was the first set of modern laws. Napoleonic Code supersede all laws in France before the Revolution. Lastly, the German Civil Law Code was a result of twenty years of effort to study previous law, develop a philosophy of law, and provide a rational basis for legal

The number one difference between the two is that Civil Law is codified, and Common Law is uncodified. In the book, Comparative Criminal Justice it states, “The judicial tradition of referring to the law itself rather than to precedents established in prior cases remains an essential part of the civil law tradition and an important feature that distinguishes it from the Common Law.” (Dammer, p 45) The roles of a lawyer and a judge are a main difference as well. In Civil Law, lawyers lead proceedings for charges brought against a person. In Common Law, lawyers make presentation to a judge and the judge makes the final decision on the outcome of the one on trial. In Civil Law, law and procedures are governed by comprehensive codes of rules to anticipate all situations. In Common Law, Law and procedures are governed by both law and case precedents, which use past cases to guide future decisions. Legal codes are developed through scholarly in civil law. The laws and precedents are based on past cases in common law. In the civil law system, appellate courts apply law according to legal codes with very little interpretation. In the common law system, appellate courts are developed through the judges own