Law Differ Between Countries
Law is a set of rules that governs the actions and behavior of people. It may be created by a government or by an individual, or it can be established through the legal process, such as by statutes, regulations, and decisions made by judges. It can be used to regulate all aspects of life, including politics, economics, history and society.
Common law developed in England during the Middle Ages, and has since spread to many countries around the world. Civil law, also called continental or ITR Law, originated in the Roman Empire and covers about 60% of the world. It consists of concepts, categories and rules derived from the Roman legal system with some influence from canon law and often augmented or modified by local custom and culture.
The main difference between law in civil and common systems is that the former primarily relies on judicial decisions, known as case law or precedent, while the latter is more based on legislative statutes. In both cases, the principle of stare decisis binds higher courts to follow previous court decisions, to ensure that similar cases reach similar results.
How Does Law Differ Between Countries?
Judicial decisions are more extensive in common law systems than in civil systems, because a judge is writing not just to decide one case, but to set out his or her reasoning, so that future judges can use it as guidance for their own. The resulting decision is binding on lower courts, and the ruling may even be applied to future cases in some jurisdictions.
Freedom of contract is much less extensive in common law than in civil systems, because a lot of provisions are implied into contracts by law and parties cannot easily contract out of these restrictions. In civil systems, on the other hand, a more sophisticated model for contracting with provisions based in law is used, allowing for more freedom of contract.
Criminal law differs in a number of ways between countries. For example, some countries have a “prescription period” that limits the time between when prosecutors can bring a criminal charge and when the crime is considered to have occurred. Other criminal laws include rules about bail and the right to a trial by jury, or even by an all-powerful court.
Some countries, such as the United States and Canada, have a complex federal system that is different from the parliamentary systems of other nations. This can make it difficult for a country to determine how to deal with legal differences between the two. The rule of law is a condition in which every person, citizen or not, is subject to the law, and government officials are held accountable for their actions by the public. It is a contrast to autocracies, dictatorships, and oligarchies in which the authorities are above the law.
The rule of law is a central concept in political science and is an essential feature of democracies. However, it is possible for a state’s laws to become arbitrary and unjust. This can occur for a number of reasons, including neglect of the law by lawmakers or a lack of mechanisms to correct it.
