api: YAML JSON TOON Database
version: 1.0.0
format: yaml
dataset:
  id: 2425
  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:
    - 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:
    - Most countries have mixed elements; the families are tendencies, not strict categories.
    - Many systems have changed substantially, particularly the former socialist legal systems.
  related:
    - contract-formation-elements
    - criminal-law-terms
    - major-us-constitutional-amendments
  entry_count: 6
  fields:
    - section: data
      field: system
      type: string
      example: Common Law
    - section: data
      field: origin
      type: string
      example: England
    - section: data
      field: characteristics
      type: string
      example: Judge-made precedent, adversarial procedure.
  category: Law
  category_slug: law
  tags: law,legal-systems,jurisdiction
  view_count: 55
  created_at: 1792832553
  updated_at: 1792832553
data:
  - system: Common Law
    origin: England
    characteristics: Judge-made precedent, adversarial procedure.
  - system: Civil Law
    origin: Roman law
    characteristics: Codified statutes, inquisitorial procedure.
  - system: Religious Law
    origin: Religious texts
    characteristics: Based on religious doctrines and interpretations.
  - system: Customary Law
    origin: Local customs
    characteristics: Derived from long-established community practices.
  - system: Mixed System
    origin: Multiple sources
    characteristics: Combines elements of common, civil, or customary law.
  - system: Socialist Legal System
    origin: Soviet law
    characteristics: State-centered, with law subordinate to party policy and a strong role for public ownership; largely transformed since the 1990s.