A lot of Western democracies are parliamentary, which eliminates the need for a powerful Supreme Court like in the US since there shouldn’t be any fighting between the executive and the legislature.
The US also practices common law instead of civil law, again giving more power to judges as common law relies a lot more on precedent and interpreting the law.
Shocking, one of the few democracies that empowers its judges to the level of the US is Iran.
As a very rough description, civil law is a legal structure where the written legal codes take complete supremacy over any case law. Legal precedent has little value and, in many cases, can’t be used as part of a legal argument. Judges have relatively little power in the interpretation of the law.
Common law, in contrast, is based on a series of previous legal decisions which can end up having the same affect as law. Previous rulings can carry the same weight as law, especially when laws are vague and need clarification.
Most of the countries that follow common law today were remnants of the British Empire. While civil law in its modern form came from Napoleonic France and its codification of Roman Law into the Napoleonic Code, other countries continued the practice and modified the code based on internal practices.
The only other major legal system in the world is Islamic law, which is its own thing.
A lot of Western democracies are parliamentary, which eliminates the need for a powerful Supreme Court like in the US since there shouldn’t be any fighting between the executive and the legislature.
The US also practices common law instead of civil law, again giving more power to judges as common law relies a lot more on precedent and interpreting the law.
Shocking, one of the few democracies that empowers its judges to the level of the US is Iran.
What’s the difference between common and civil law? Never heard that
As a very rough description, civil law is a legal structure where the written legal codes take complete supremacy over any case law. Legal precedent has little value and, in many cases, can’t be used as part of a legal argument. Judges have relatively little power in the interpretation of the law.
Common law, in contrast, is based on a series of previous legal decisions which can end up having the same affect as law. Previous rulings can carry the same weight as law, especially when laws are vague and need clarification.
Most of the countries that follow common law today were remnants of the British Empire. While civil law in its modern form came from Napoleonic France and its codification of Roman Law into the Napoleonic Code, other countries continued the practice and modified the code based on internal practices.
The only other major legal system in the world is Islamic law, which is its own thing.