What are the two major systems of law?

What are the two major systems of law?

• A. Common Law and Civil Law
• B. Public Law and Civil Law
• C. Statutory Law and Case Law
• D. Criminal Law and Administrative Law

Answer: (B)

Two major families of law are commonly taught: common law and civil law. In a common law system, past judicial decisions shape how the law is applied, with judges relying on precedent to decide new cases. This makes court rulings a primary source of law alongside statutes, and it often means the law evolves gradually through each new judgment. In a civil law system, written codes and statutes are the main source of legal rules. Judges interpret and apply those codes to cases, with less emphasis on following previous court decisions as controlling authority. This difference changes how lawyers argue cases and how judges approach decision-making. Public law is more about how the government interacts with individuals and organizations, and private or civil law covers relationships among private persons. Those are important distinctions, but the widely recognized global divide in the law is between common law and civil law.

Two major families of law are commonly taught: common law and civil law. In a common law system, past judicial decisions shape how the law is applied, with judges relying on precedent to decide new cases. This makes court rulings a primary source of law alongside statutes, and it often means the law evolves gradually through each new judgment. In a civil law system, written codes and statutes are the main source of legal rules. Judges interpret and apply those codes to cases, with less emphasis on following previous court decisions as controlling authority. This difference changes how lawyers argue cases and how judges approach decision-making.

Public law is more about how the government interacts with individuals and organizations, and private or civil law covers relationships among private persons. Those are important distinctions, but the widely recognized global divide in the law is between common law and civil law.