A Quick Guide To Understanding Civil Law
What is Civil Law? To put it simply, it is a legal system that was originally inspired by the ancient Romans, and the system of legality that they had in place. It’s largely a collection of laws that have been codified. Although commonly in use today, specifically within the USA of America among others, it has a far-reaching history that stems backward for thousands of years.
The derivation of this system of laws and regulations is usually a reflection of the Romans. Their justice system was famed, and even today, greatly emulated over the most renowned democracies in the world. Its use of codification is a technique that dates back for thousands of years. The ancient kingdom of Babylon was one of the very first to codify their laws under the reign of King Hammurabi.
Codifying the laws of a nation, city or county is merely putting it into a classified order. To list them numbered, and so on. However, the main purpose of civil laws would be to offer the public with access to its regulations that pertain to and govern them. This way, it is more challenging for someone to be arrested without a cause because even the smallest of men have an understanding of the system of justice that reigns over him.
This system was originally derived from the Law of Justinian or Corpus Juris Civilis. It’s a collection of works that pertain to jurisprudence, written in the years 529 to 534. As ancient as these are, they were the basis for many that many prospective nations were soon to follow. The Eastern Roman Emperor, Justinian the First, commissioned his Tribonian, or Court Official to oversee the task.
The Tribonian and his staff worked to edit the laws and introduce new aspects that they thought would improve it. Once finished, the works were distributed throughout the whole kingdom in Latin. It was surely a surprise for the lowliest category of people living in that time. Suddenly they could read the laws for themselves and understand justice without relying on a translation or a petty claim that some wrongdoing had been committed. It had been made available for all eyes to see.
Codification aside, this system is a legal code; a collection of laws that are made to deal with private law issues comprehensively. It’s made to preserve peace and justice by enforcing punishment on criminals of the code. Over thе уеаrs, Ñ–t hаs bееn роіntеd out that this system was possibly the basis for laws that concerned Socialism. One only wants to tweak the system, making it more powerful, more regulatory, to impose a system that implements a more controlling character.
In the Western hemisphere, the concept of Civil Law was well known. Immigrants in the East brought these thoughts to their new home in America. Colonial expansion resulted in the idea to expand further, and no doubt had a profound, if not subconscious effect in the shaping of that particular young nation once the time came for them to create their laws.
In short, the participation of the centuries and the ancient kingdoms of the earth have contributed to the modern legal systems that we are knowledgeable about today. Their mistakes and triumphs were the blueprints younger, newer nations necessary to have to make their justice more exact, and of course, juster.
