Common Law vs. Civil Law

  • 6 minute presentation.
  • Common law as developed in Northern Europe during the middle ages by the Germanic and Nordic people.
  • It was brought into England by conquerors.
  • In modern times, England spread the common law around the world, especially in most of its colonies.
  • Civil law, on the other hand, began with the Romans,
  • The Byzantine Emperor Justinian assembled a team of experts who could condense and simplify a system of Roman Law into one single body of law.
  • The Byzantine system spread into eastern and northern Europe. Today, nearly all of Europe uses civil law.
  • Below is comparison contrasting the two systems:

Common Law

Civil law

  1. Case Law
  1. Codified
  1. Precedent
  1. Legislated
  1. Handed over time
  1. Changeable
  1. From the people
  1. From the state
  1. Flexible
  1. Inflexible