Compare and contrast the common law system and the civil law system

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The common law system is most familiar to companies doing business in the United States, England, and 26 former British colonies. The source of law is primarily case law, and decisions rely heavily on case precedents. As statutory law has become more prominent in common-law countries, the courts' interpretation of laws made by legislative bodies and of regulations set forth by administrative agencies has substantially increased the body of common law.
Countries that follow the Romano-Germanic civil law (e.g., France, Germany, and Sweden) organize their legal systems around legal codes rather than around cases, regulations, and precedents, as do common law countries. Thus, judges in civil-law countries of Europe, Latin America, and Asia resolve disputes primarily by reference to general provisions of codes and secondarily by reference to statutes passed by legislative bodies. As the body of written opinions in civil-law countries grows, and as they adopt computer-based case and statutory systems such as Westlaw and Lexis, however, the highest courts in these countries are taking greater note of case law in their decisions. Civil law systems tend to put great emphasis on private law, that is, law that governs relationships between individuals and corporations or between individuals. Examples are the law of obligations, which includes common law contracts, torts, and creditor-debtor relationships. In contrast to common-law systems, civil law systems have an inferior public law: This is a law that governs the relationships between individuals and the state. In fact, their jurists are not extensively trained in such areas as criminal, administrative, and labor law.