api: YAML JSON TOON Database
version: 1.0.0
format: json
dataset:
  slug: legal-systems-common-vs-civil
  title: Legal Systems
  description: Major legal systems around the world.
  summary: "The major families of legal systems: common law, civil law, religious law, customary law and mixed systems, with the origin and characteristics of each, plus socialist legal systems as a historical and residual family."
  use_when[2]: You need to place a country's legal system in its family or explain how they differ.,You are comparing how legal rules are made and applied.
  caveats[2]: "Most countries have mixed elements; the families are tendencies, not strict categories.","Many systems have changed substantially, particularly the former socialist legal systems."
  related[3]: contract-formation-elements,criminal-law-terms,major-us-constitutional-amendments
  category: Law
  category_slug: law
  tags: "law,legal-systems,jurisdiction"
  view_count: 0
  entry_count: 6
  fields[3]{section,field,type,example}:
    data,system,string,Common Law
    data,origin,string,England
    data,characteristics,string,"Judge-made precedent, adversarial procedure."
data[6]{system,origin,characteristics}:
  Common Law,England,"Judge-made precedent, adversarial procedure."
  Civil Law,Roman law,"Codified statutes, inquisitorial procedure."
  Religious Law,Religious texts,Based on religious doctrines and interpretations.
  Customary Law,Local customs,Derived from long-established community practices.
  Mixed System,Multiple sources,"Combines elements of common, civil, or customary law."
  Socialist Legal System,Soviet law,"State-centered, with law subordinate to party policy and a strong role for public ownership; largely transformed since the 1990s."