Understanding the Law and the Legal System

Introduction

Law and the Legal system are somehow connected to each other because it pertains in any aspect national rules and regulations. Understanding legal system, laws, and the practice of law can definitely create a sense of clarification. Law, according to Encarta Dictionary, is a binding or enforceable rule of conduct or procedure recognized by the authority. The law is the sum, set or conglomerate of all the laws in all of the jurisdictions that is formed by the constitutions, statues, and the regulation that interpret them.

The traditional principle is also known as common law and the judicial opinions that apply and interpret all the legal rules involved. In addition, the idea of law is also about the legal process which includes the ways in which laws are made, enforced, and interpreted. On the other hand, the legal system based on the Encarta Dictionary is the body or system of rules recognized by a community that are enforceable by established process. One simple example is forbidding every individual to enter your personal premises. And if anyone is caught maybe charge trespassing. It is part of the law that has the power to interpret the law once it is established.

The Common Law

In a legal system, there are two developed branch namely common law and civil law. And for over the years, the two types of law created confusion. For once, the common law is the body of law resulted from the custom and judicial decisions. After the years of translation, revision, and series of development – finally the common law is born (Apple and Deyling, 1995). The common law principle is considered to take more rigid and formalistic approach to contractual interpretation than of the civil legal system. This principle highlights the freedom of contract (Pratt, 2001). The written documentation is embodied in their agreement in which it can be explain or interpret the words in agreement. The good faith is part of it, whether in relation to the creation or performance of the contract.

The Differences of Common Law and Civil Law

The common law and civil law serves distinction as the two types of legal system and their approach to the law (Apple and Deyling, 1995). In common law system: The common law lawyer, by and large, simply doesn’t care whether such comprehensive, logical, and legal system exists or not. The lawyer is bound to decide upon the case, with the aid of judicial precedent and with or without the aid of statutory enactment of rules in particular cases.

In contrast, the civil law system analyzes and elaborates the principles behind the very legal system. The components of this system are believed to be purely legal, a set of ultimate truths related by rigorous deductive logic. In civil law systems, the law of obligations recognizes and enforces an overriding principle that in making and carrying out contracts. It is more about conveying on the fairness (Pratt, 2001). There are changes took place in the legal systems both in civil law countries and in the common law. The changes values the strength in different fields of private law, contracts, and torts has been in the characteristics of the common law and civil law as the principle of freedom of contract (Cabrillo, 2007).

Conclusion

Understanding the difference between the common law and the civil law is quite difficult. They both scope the different kind of interpreting the legal system but they are both in implementing the ideas of legal system. In a broader view, the concept of law is to make every nation aligned towards the civilization. A country that has no law that binds every people only means that there is no great leader to rule them all. The law is created by the individuals for the other individuals to gain benefits, punishment, and equal rights. More over, the application of law is almost part of everyday life, and without it, all the efforts of making life worth living is nothing because the law acts as the string that pulls every individual towards the right from wrong.

Works Cited:

Apple, J., & Deyling, R., 1995. A Primer on the Civil-Law System. [Online] Available at: http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/CivilLaw.pdf/$file/CivilLaw.pdf. [Accessed 18 Nov 2009].

Cabrillo, F., 2007. Law and Economic Development: Common Law versus Civil Law. [Online] Available at: http://www.isnie.org/assets/files/papers2007/cabrillo.pdf. [Accessed 18 Nov 2009].

Pratt, A Comparison of Common Law and Civil Law in the International Franchise Arena. [Online] Available at: http://www.franchise.org/files/EMERGING%20TRENDS.PDF. [Accessed 18 Nov 2009].

Other Source:

A Primer on the Law and the Legal System [Online] Available at: http://www.fac-staff.seattleu.edu/kwing/web/Torts 1a.doc. [Accessed 18 Nov 2009].