Big Assignment: Introduction To Law

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG QUỐC TẾ
VNU – INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
BIG ASSIGNMENT
Introduction to Law
Lecturers: Vũ Xuân Đoàn

Student name: Dong Thi Hoa
Date of birth: 19/05/2003
Student ID No: 21070894
Class: THL105709
Hanoi, May 7th , 2022

ESSAY QUESTION
Describe the difference between Common Law and Civil Law
Essay (70 – 1000 words):
Common Law (Anglo-American legal system) and Civil Law(Continental

European legal system) are the two largest and most popular legal systems in
the world. There are roughly 150 countries that have what can be described as
preeminent civil law systems, whereas there are about 80 common law countries.
This system contains distinctive features that make up the "family" of laws.
Although the laws in the countries of the system have changed significantly in the
direction of replacing defects and adding new contents, the fundamental changes
have not lost their specificity and distinctiveness. It has given this judicial system
its "identity".
The basic different characteristics of the two legal systems Common Law and
Civil Law are most clearly shown in 4 criteria: origin of the law; codification;
procedure; Role of the Jurists
1. Origins Civil Law:
Historians say that the Romans developed civil law around 600 C.E., when the
emperor Justinian began compiling legal codes. Current civil law codes
developed around that Justinian tradition.
In continental law, property relations were tied to the principles of Roman Civil
Law, the set of legal provisions that underpin Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis.
When discussing the influence of Roman Law, Mac once remarked that
European law could not make significant changes to Ancient Roman Law but
only copied it in a fundamental way.
Anglo-American law was not as deeply influenced and inextricably connected

with the principles of Roman civil law as continental law. The reason is that they
think that the Court only has jurisdiction over each specific case. Lawyers must
be trained and mature in practice. However, both of these legal systems more or
less inherited the wealth and standardization of Roman legal terminology.
Example: stare decisis (Previous Court judgment must be recognized as
precedent); pacta sunt servandas (contracts must be respected).
The influence of legal doctrines, as a source of law, tends to apply more in
Common Law than in countries in the Civil law tradition.
2. Codification:
These two legal systems approach the law in different ways. The Civil law
system holds that the law must be from specific institutions(All law resides in
institutions), while the Common law system believes that the law is formed from
custom (All law is custom).
The advantages of the Codes in Civil Law are generalization and high stability.
Common Law is based mainly on the source of law, which is legal precedent.
The judge is both the adjudicator and the creator of the law indirectly. The most
obvious advantages of customs are their specificity, flexibility and suitability with
the development of social relations.
Continental law is divided into public law and private law, while Anglo-American
law is difficult to divide. Public law includes branches of law, legal institutions
regulating the relations of organization and operation of state agencies, as well
as relationships in where one party is a state agency. The judiciary includes the
branches of law, the legal institutions that regulate relationships related to other
individuals and organizations.
At the core of private law is the principle of free will. Free will limits state power
and allows citizens to do anything that is not prohibited by law. In the field of
private law, the state plays the role of arbitrator. The core of public law is that
civil authority can only do what the law allows. The state must obey the law
3. Procedure
The continental legal system develops the inquisitorial system, written argument
form, while the Anglo-American legal system develops the Case system/ oral
argument form. However, it is not entirely correct to assert that the Civil Law
system does not apply the presumption of innocence.
When adjudicating, countries under the Common Law system attach great
importance to the Due process principle. This is the principle mentioned in the
5th and 14th amendments of the United States. The main content of this principle
refers to three main requirements: equal requirements of the parties in giving
evidence before the Court (equal footing) ; require that the trial be conducted by
a qualified independent judge, and by an impartial, impartial jury(fair trial and
impartial jury); required that the law be made so that the common man could
understand the offence. (Laws must be written so that a reasonable person can
understand what is criminal behavior).
The Civil Law system is based on the interrogation procedure(inquisitorial

system), so in criminal cases, judges rely mainly on the written law, the results of
the investigation agency, and the trial process at the Court to make a decision.
Courts in countries that follow the Common Law tradition are considered second
law-making bodies, or precedent-making bodies(The second Legislation). In
contrast, in countries following the Civil Law tradition, only the Parliament has the
power to make laws, while the Court is only the body that applies the law.
In countries following the Common Law tradition, most international agreements

are not part of domestic/national law. They can only be applied by courts when
international agreements have been codified by the legislature. In the countries
of the Civil Law tradition, it is different, for example in Switzerland, international
treaties are applied directly as part of domestic law, so the Courts can directly
apply the treaties. international court.
4. Role of the Jurists
The Anglo-American law is because case law is the basic source, especially with
the tradition of attaching importance to evidence, so lawyers and judges are
highly respected. Continental law is the main source of legal documents, and due
to the practice of “judgment on file” – the investigation process depends largely
on the results of the investigative agency, so the initial lawyer are less respected
than countries under the Anglo-American legal system. Judges in Civil Law
countries only conduct adjudication activities but are not allowed to participate in
legislative activities, they are not allowed to create legal institutions and
regulations.
Civil law judges are trained according to a separate process, they are usually not
lawyers before. But in Common Law it's different, judges are mostly selected
from very famous lawyers;
The reasons for the difference between these two legal systems are many, both
objective and subjective, but the main reason is still determined by the
development process of the different bourgeois revolution. The bourgeois
revolutions in other countries have taken place with different natures and
degrees of radicalization, with some countries having radical anti-feudal
revolutions, and some not taking place thoroughly.
When it comes to the bourgeois legal system, the two legal systems above are
two large legal systems, but besides these two legal systems, there is also the
existence of the legal system of Muslim countries, Nordic law…
Since the end of the 20th century, countries under the Civil Law system have
undergone many changes. For example, it is no longer based solely on the Civil
Code, but in these countries case precedents, sub-law documents, and judicial
research are also considered important sources of law. Civil laws were also
supplemented and amended, especially in Germany (BGB).
For example, the British bourgeois revolution was not radical, so English law was
different from French law. In addition, we also see that the American bourgeois
state is far from Europe, so it is not influenced by the bourgeois revolution in
Europe, so the American law is also different from the European law in general.
Reference documents:
Nguyen Minh Tuan MSc. University of Saarland, Federal Republic of Germany
(Excerpt from the Book: Lectures on History of State and World Law, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi,
2007).

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ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

Lecturers: Vũ Xuân Đoàn

Hanoi, May 7th , 2022

Describe the difference between Common Law and Civil Law

Essay (70 – 1000 words):

Common Law (Anglo-American legal system) and Civil Law(Continental

1. Origins Civil Law:

Anglo-American law was not as deeply influenced and inextricably connected

The Civil Law system is based on the interrogation procedure(inquisitorial

In countries following the Common Law tradition, most international agreements

4. Role of the Jurists

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