| Contents |
| Civil law |
| Common law |
| Religious law |
| Pluralistic systems |
| Civil law and common law |
| Civil law and religious law |
| Common law and religious law |
| Systems by geography |
| See also |
| External links |
| References |
| Country | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Albania | The Civil Code of the Republic of Albania, 1991 really[1] | |
| Angola | Based on Portuguese civil law | |
| Argentina | The Spanish legal tradition had a great influence on the Civil Code of Argentina, basically a work of the Argentinean jurist Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield, who dedicated five years of his life on this task. The Civil Code came into effect on January 1, 1871. Beyond the influence of the Spanish legal tradition, the Argentinian Civil Code was also inspired by the Draft of the Brazilian Civil Code, the of the Spanish Civil Code of 1851, the Napoleonic code and the Chilean Civil Code. The sources of this Civil Code also include various theoretical legal works, mainly of the great French jurists of the 19th century. It was the first Civil Law that consciously adopted as its cornerstone the distinction between i. rights from obligations and ii. real property rights, thus distancing itself from the French model.The Argentinian Civil Code was also in effect in Paraguay, as per a Paraguayan law of 1880, until the new Civil Code went in force in 1987.During the second half of the 20th century, the German legal theory became increasingly influential in Argentina. | |
| Andorra | Courts apply the customary laws of Andorra, supplemented with Roman law and customary Catalan law.[1] | |
| Armenia | ||
| Aruba | Based on Dutch civil law | |
| Austria | The Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB) of 1811 | |
| Azerbaijan | ||
| Belarus | ||
| Belgium | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code | |
| Benin | ||
| Bolivia | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | ||
| Brazil | Derived from the Portuguese civil law | |
| Bulgaria | ||
| Burkina Faso | ||
| Burundi | ||
| Chad | ||
| People's Republic of China | based on civil law system; derived from Soviet and continental civil code legal principles. | |
| Republic of the Congo | ||
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | ||
| Cote d'Ivoire | ||
| Cambodia | ||
| Cape Verde | Based on Portuguese civil law | |
| Central African Republic | ||
| Chile | The Spanish legal tradition exercised an especially great influence on the civil code of Chile. On its turn, the Chilean civil code influenced to a large degree the drafting of the civil codes of other Latin-American states. For instance, the codes of Ecuador (1861) and Colombia (1873) constituted faithful reproductions of the Chilean code, but for very few exceptions. The compiler of the Civil Code of Chile, Andrés Bello, worked for its completion for almost 30 years, using elements, of the Spanish law on the one hand, and of other Western laws, especially of the French one, on the other. Indeed, it is noted that he consulted and used all of the codes that had been issued till then, starting from the era of Justinian.The Civil Code came into effect on January 1, 1857. Its technique is regarded as perfect; it is distinguished for the clarity, logic and cohesiveness of its provisions. As mentioned by Arminjon, Nolde, and Wolff ('Traite de droit comparé', Paris, 1950-1952) Andrés Bello may be regarded as one of the great legislators of mankind. The influence of the Napoleonic code is great; it is observed however that e.g. in many provisions of property law, the solutions of the French code civil were put aside in favor of pure Roman law. | |
| Colombia | Civil code introduced in 1873. Nearly faithful reproduction of the Chilean civil code | |
| Costa Rica | First Civil Code (a part of the General Code or Carrillo Code) came into effect in 1841; its text was inspired by the South Peruvian Civil Code of Marshal Andres de Santa Cruz. The present Civil Code is into effect since January 1st, 1888, and reveals the influenced by the Napoleonic Code and the Spanish Civil Code of 1889 (from its 1851 draft version). | |
| Croatia | Kazneni zakon RH- Great influence of Austro- Hungarian law system | |
| Cuba | Influenced by Spanish and American law with large elements of Communist legal theory. | |
| Czech Republic | ||
| Denmark | Scandinavian-German civil law | |
| Dominican Republic | ||
| Ecuador | Civil code introduced in 1861. Nearly faithful reproduction of the Chilean civil code | |
| El Salvador | ||
| Estonia | ||
| Finland | ||
| France | Based on the Napoleonic code (code civil of 1804) | |
| Equatorial Guinea | ||
| Ethiopia | ||
| Gabon | ||
| Guinea | ||
| Guinea-Bissau | ||
| Georgia | ||
| Germany | The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch of 1900 | |
| Greece | The Greek civil code of 1946, highly influenced by the German civil code of 1900 (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch); the Greek civil code replaced the Byzantine-Roman civil law in effect in Greece since its independence (Νομική Διάταξη της Ανατολικής Χέρσου Ελλάδος, Legal Provision of Eastern Mainland Greece, November 1821: 'Οι Κοινωνικοί Νόμοι των Αειμνήστων Χριστιανών Αυτοκρατόρων της Ελλάδος μόνοι ισχύουσι κατά το παρόν εις την Ανατολικήν Χέρσον Ελλάδα', 'The Social [i.e. Civil] Laws of the Dear Departed Christian Emperors of Greece [referring to the Byzantine Emperors] alone are in effect at present in Eastern Mainland Greece') | |
| Guatemala | Guatemala has had three Civil Codes: the first one from 1877, a new one introduced in 1933, and the one currently in force, which was passed in 1963. This Civil Code has suffered some reforms throughout the years, as well as a few derogations relating to areas which have subsequently been regulated by newer laws, such as the Code of Commerce and the Law of the National Registry of Persons. In general, it follows the tradition of the roman-french system of civil codification.Regarding the theory of 'sources of law' in the Guatemalan legal system, the 'Ley del Organismo Judicial' recognizes 'the law' as the main legal source (in the sense of legislative texts), although it also establishes 'jurisprudence' as a complementary source. Although jurisprudence technically refers to judicial decisions in general, in practice it tends to be confused and identified with the concept of 'legal doctrine', which is a qualified series of identical resolutions in similar cases pronounced by higher courts (the Constitutional Court acting as a 'Tribunal de Amparo', and the Supreme Court acting as a 'Tribunal de Casación') whose theses become binding for lower courts. | |
| Haiti | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code | |
| Honduras | ||
| Hungary | ||
| Iceland | Based on Germanic traditional laws and influenced by Medieval Norwegian and Danish laws. | |
| Italy | Based on codified Roman law, with elements of the Napoleonic civil code; civil code of 1942 replaced the original one of 1865 | |
| Japan | Modeled after European (primarily German) civil law system. Japanese civil code of 1895. | |
| Latvia | Largely influenced by Germany, medium influences from Russian and Soviet law. | |
| Lebanon | Modeled after French civil law | |
| Lithuania | Modeled after Dutch civil law | |
| Luxembourg | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code | |
| Macau (China) | Based on the Portuguese strand of the continental tradition, itself much influenced by Germany; also influenced by the law of the PRC | |
| Mexico | "The origins of Mexico's legal system are both ancient and classical, based on the Greek, Roman and French legal systems, and the Mexican system shares more in common with other legal systems throughout the world (especially those in Latin America and most of continental Europe)..." From: http://www.mexonline.com/lawreview.htm Jaime B. Berger Stender Attorney at Law author, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico | |
| Mongolia | ||
| Netherlands | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code | |
| Norway | Scandinavian-German civil law. King Magnus VI the Lawmender unified the regional laws into a single code of law for the whole kingdom in 1274. This was replaced by Christian V's ''Norwegian Code'' of 1687. | |
| Panama | ||
| Paraguay | The Paraguayan Civil Code in force since 1987 is largely influenced by the Napoleonic Code and the Argentinian Code | |
| Peru | ||
| Poland | The Polish Civil Code in force since 1965 | |
| Portugal | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code and later by the German Civil Law | |
| Republic of China (Taiwan) | ||
| Romania | Based on the Napoleonic Code | |
| Russia | ||
| Slovakia | ||
| Slovenia | A Civil Law system influenced mostly by Germanic and Austro-Hungarian law systems | |
| Spain | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code | |
| Sweden | Scandinavian-German civil law. Like all Scandinavian legal systems, it is distinguished by its traditional character and for the fact that it did not adopt elements of Roman law. It is indeed worth mentioning that it assimilated very few elements of foreign laws whatsoever. It is also interesting that the Napoleonic Code had no influence in codification of law in Scandinavia. The historical basis of the law of Sweden, just as for all Nordic countries, is the Old German law. Codification of the law started in Sweden during the 18th century, preceding the codifications of most other European countries. However, neither Sweden, nor any other Nordic state created a civil code of the kind of the Code Civil or the BGB. | |
| Switzerland | The Zivilgesetzbuch of 1908 and 1912 (obligations; fifth book) | |
| Turkey | Modeled after the Swiss civil law (Zivilgesetzbuch) of 1907; this has been a conscious choice of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish state, in order to abolish the Islamic law (Sharia), aiming at westernizing the country | |
| Slovakia | ||
| Uruguay | ||
| Vatican City | ||
| Vietnam | Communist legal theory and French civil law |
| Country | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Botswana | South African law (a mixed system) transferred uno acto through a proclamation of reception | |
| Cameroon | ||
| Cyprus | Based on English common law (Cyprus was a British colony 1878-1960), with admixtures of French and Greek civil and public law, Italian civil law, Indian contract law, Greek Orthodox canon law, Muslim religious law, and Ottoman civil law. | |
| Guyana | ||
| Israel | Originally (1948) based on English common law; in the process, influenced by German civil law—for instance, between 1962 and 1981, the Knesset issued twenty (20) wide-ranging laws, which were clearly influenced by European continental law, and were in the form of codes. Religious law plays a role, especially in matters of personal status and family law, and judicial and legislative decisions take into account Jewish law (halakhah) on occasion.[3] | |
| Lesotho | South African law (a mixed system) transferred uno acto through a proclamation of reception | |
 22x20px (U.S.) | Based on the French Napoleonic Code; the modern legal system of the state of Louisiana has its origin in the Louisiana Purchase (i.e. the sale of Louisiana—not coterminous with the present eponymous state—by Napoleon to the United States of America in 1803), while federal laws (based on common law) are in effect in Louisiana as well. | |
| Malta | Initially based on Roman Law and eventually progressed to the Code de Rohan, Code Napoleon with influences from Italian Civil Law. English common law however is also a source of Maltese Law, most notably in Public Law | |
| Mauritius | ||
| Namibia | South African law (a mixed system) transferred uno acto through a proclamation of reception | |
| Philippines | Based on Spanish law; influenced by U.S. common law after 1898 Spanish and Philippine-American Wars. | |
| Puerto Rico (U.S.) | Based on Spanish law; influenced by U.S. common law after 1898 (victory of the U.S. over Spain in the Spanish-American war of 1898 and cession of Puerto Rico to the U.S.) | |
| Quebec (Canada) | After the defeat of the French in the battle at the Plains of Abraham, the British allowed them to keep their language (French), their religion (Roman Catholicism), and their legal system (civil law). However, as Quebec is part of the Canadian Confederation, English-based laws applied at the federal level are in effect in Quebec also. | |
| Saint Lucia | ||
| Scotland (UK) | based on Roman and continental law, with common law elements dating back to the High Middle Ages | |
| Seychelles | ||
| South Africa | An amalgam of English common law and Roman-Dutch civil law as well as Customary Law. | |
| Sri Lanka | An amalgam of English common law, Roman-Dutch civil law and Customary Law | |
| Swaziland | South African law (a mixed system) transferred uno acto through a proclamation of reception | |
| Thailand | ||
| Vanuatu | ||
| Zimbabwe | South African law (a mixed system) transferred uno acto through a proclamation of reception |
| Country | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Algeria | ||
| Comoros | ||
| Djibouti | ||
| Egypt | Based on Islamic law and French civil law system | |
| Eritrea | ||
| Indonesia | Based on civil law of Holland and adat (cultural law of Indonesia) | |
| Morocco | Based on Islamic law and French and Spanish civil law system |
| Country | Description |
|---|---|
| Bahrain | |
| Bangladesh | |
| Brunei | |
| Gambia | |
| India | based on English common law, separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus |
| Malaysia | based on English common law, and sharia law applies to Muslims |
| Nigeria | |
| Oman | |
| Pakistan | based on English Common Law, some Islamic Law applications in inheritance. Tribal Law in FATA |
| Qatar | |
| Singapore | based on English common law |
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