Common Law vs Civil Law, Legal Systems explained
by Hesham Elrafei

What's the difference between Civil law and common law?

Legal Systems, Common Law and Civil Law.

The legal systems most commonly encountered in commercial dispute resolutionو are the Common Law and the Civil Law.

Common Law is a system based on the idea of binding judicial precedent. It consists of the body of Law that developed over many years in England, based on court decisions and custom, as opposed to written codified Laws.

Colonists imported England's common Law to America, and other Commonwealth countries.

The Law originates from the legislative branch of government, and the precedents established by higher courts are binding on lower courts.

The approach in common Law is adversarial, so parties contest each other to prove their cases before a judge, who moderates the process and gives judgment.

On the other side, Civil Law system is a body of written laws derived from Roman Law and France's Napoleonic Code. It is based on interpreting a codified set of written laws and is adopted in most state legal systems, like Europe, South America, China, and the middle east.

Parliament is the primary source of Law, and the judge's role is to establish the facts of the case, and apply the provisions of applicable codes.

Trials in civil law systems are inquisitorial and fact-finding in nature, as opposed to English common law adversarial trials.

The Civil Law judge plays an active role during the trial, by questioning parties, lawyers, witnesses, and experts.

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