The idea of providing a country with a single written constitution is relatively modern, but now widespread. In many countries, the constitution follows a decisive event in national history, such as war, revolution or independence. The methods by which a constitution can be changed have both legal and political significance. They may divide the power of amendment between the people, the legislature and the executive, or between a federation and its constituent parts. They can express core values by declaring certain immutable characteristics. Some constitutions stipulate that certain issues can only be changed by referendum or by an entirely new constitution. In federal systems, changes typically require special majorities in the federal legislature, followed by ratification by a special majority of the states. Summary of the differences between civil and common law legal systems Comparators and economists who defend the theory of legal origins generally divide civil law into four different groups: In the second half of the 20th century, German legal theory gained increasing influence in Argentina. In federal constitutions, the enumerated powers are often assigned to the central government structure, while the other powers are left to the constituent parts. In practice, the main powers of defence, taxation and trade go to the centre, while education and health care can go to the components. The constituent parts are protected, at least theoretically, by representation within the central governmental structure (i.e. the United States Congress) and by their own governmental powers in their territories.
As a general rule, there are few generalizations that can be made between different constitutions. First, constitutions seek to regulate the division of powers, functions and duties among various agencies and government officials, and to define the relationship between them and the public. Second, no constitution, no matter how good, can protect a political system from effective usurpation. Third, those in power in many countries are more or less completely ignorant of the constitution. Fourth, even when constitutions do, none is complete: each operates within a matrix of compromises, customary laws or jurisprudence. Fifth, most begin by identifying (at least on paper) the constituent authority (as “the people”) and often invoke the deity (i.e., Canada, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Pakistan, Switzerland). Sixth, as a rule, they separate the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the State. Seventh, they usually contain or incorporate a bill of rights. Eighth, they often provide a method of repealing laws and other unconstitutional instruments, including the Bill of Rights. Ninth, they approach the international scene only in general terms and in practice confer extensive powers on the (federal) executive. Finally, they deal with the status of international law, either by giving it direct internal effect or by denying it. Countries that follow a common law system are generally those that were former British colonies or protectorates, including the United States.
Civil law is a legal system that originated in continental Europe and is adopted in much of the world. The civil law system is intellectualized within the framework of Roman law and with fundamental principles codified in a referential system that serves as the main source of law. The civil law system is often opposed to the common law system that originated in medieval England, whose intellectual framework historically derived from uncodified judicial jurisprudence and set a precedent for earlier judicial decisions. [1] The following is a complete list of countries that base their legal systems on codified civil law: Roman law existed continuously in the Byzantine Empire until its final fall in the 15th century. However, given the numerous incursions and occupations of Western European powers in the late Middle Ages, its laws were widely enforced in the West. It was first preserved in the Holy Roman Empire, partly because it was considered an imperial right, and it spread to Europe mainly because its students were the only trained jurists. It became the basis of Scots law, although it partly competed with surviving Norman feudal law. In England, it was taught academically at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but was subject only to inheritance law and matrimonial law, as both were adopted by canon law and maritime law, which was adopted by the lex mercatoria through the Bordeaux trade. Most modern legal systems can be described as either common law, civil law, or a mixture of both. With regard to the theory of “sources of law” in the Guatemalan legal system, the “Ley del Organismo Judicial” recognizes “law” as the main source of law (within the meaning of legal texts), but also establishes “jurisprudence” as a complementary source.
Although case law technically refers to judicial decisions in general, in practice it tends to be confused and identified with the concept of “legal doctrine”, which is a qualified set of identical solutions in similar cases handed down by higher courts (the Constitutional Court as the “Tribunal de Amparo” and the Supreme Court as the “Tribunal de Casación”). whose theses become binding on subordinate courts. Germanic codes appeared in the 6th and 7th centuries in order to clearly distinguish the law applicable to the privileged Germanic classes from their Roman subjects and to regulate these laws according to folk law. Under feudal law, a number of private customs were compiled, first under the Norman Empire (Very Old Customary, 1200-1245), and then elsewhere, to record seigneurial and later regional customs, court decisions and the legal principles underlying them. The custumals were commanded by gentlemen who, as lay judges, presided over the seigneurial courts in order to learn about the judicial process. The use of guardians of influential cities quickly became a widespread practice. In accordance with this, some monarchs consolidated their kingdoms by attempting to gather custumals that would serve as the law of the land for their empires, as when Charles VII of France commissioned an official custodium of the law of the crown in 1454. Two important examples are the Custom of Paris (written 1510; revised 1580), which served as the basis for the Napoleonic Code, and the Sachsenspiegel (circa 1220) of the dioceses of Magdeburg and Halberstadt, which was used in northern Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. The original source of the common law system can be traced back to the English monarchy, which issued formal orders called “writs” when justice had to be done.