Legal Systems

Several meanings of legal systems:

* set of rules of conduct imposed and enforced by national authority at a given time in a given place

* set of characteristics that are distinctive for a certain system of law

Socialist Law :

* 1918 - 1989

* Large impact on Polish Law

* Still exists: China, Viet Nam, Cuba

* Features:

* Public property

* Central planning

* Dictatorship of Communist party

* Rights and liberties of citizens are limited

Civil Law:

* HISTORY

* Roman Law

* French Code Civil (1804)

* ideas of the French Revolution

* base for other codes

e.g.: Księstwo Warszawskie, Italy, Spain, Portugal

* French colonies

* Characteristics

* Written law

* Systematic codification of general law

* General and abstract norms

Common Law:

* HISTORY

* System created in Great Britain - 11th century (English concepts)

* UK (except Scotland),Republic of Ireland

* Colonialisation: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, , USA (except Louisiana), Canada

* CHARACTERISTICS

* Superlative position of case law

* Concrete and individual norms

* „Judge-made” law

Common Law vs. Civil Law:

* Different style of thinking

* Differences in origin

* practice vs. theory

* Source of norms

* precedent vs. codification

* How detailed judgements are

* Structure of codes or statutes

Systems are converging

STATUTES CHARACTERISTICS:

* Statutes are necessary :

* establishing obligations for citizens (penal law, tax law, regulations limiting citizens’ freedoms, etc…)

* regulating the most important organisational aspects of administrative and state organs

* all matters that have been once regulated by a statute.

Right of legislative initiative:

* a group of at least 100,000 citizens

* at...