All legal systems deal with the same fundamental issues, but jurisdictions categorize and identify their legal issues in different ways. A common distinction is made between “public law” (a term closely associated with the state and encompassing constitutional, administrative and criminal law) and “private law” (which includes contracts, torts and property). [171] In civil law systems, contract and tort are governed by a general law of obligations, while the law of trusts is governed by law or international conventions. International law, constitutional and administrative law, criminal law, contracts, tort, property law and trusts are considered the “traditional commodities”,[172] although there are many other disciplines. The main legal institutions in developed countries were independent courts, representative parliaments, an accountable executive, the military and police, bureaucratic organizations, the legal profession and civil society itself. John Locke in his Two Treatises on Government and Baron de Montesquieu in L`esprit des lois argued for a separation of powers between politics, the legislative and the executive. [124] Their principle was that no one should be able to usurp all the powers of the state, contrary to Thomas Hobbes` absolutist theory of Leviathan. [125] Sun Yat-sen`s Five Powers Constitution for the Republic of China reinforces the separation of powers by establishing two additional branches of government – a control yuan for oversight and an audit yuan for managing the employment of civil servants. [126] Some civil injustices are grouped into torts in common law systems and torts in civil law systems. [206] To have committed an offence, one must have breached an obligation to another person or violated a pre-existing right. A simple example could be accidentally hitting someone with a cricket ball. [207] Under the law of negligence, the most common form of tort, the injured person could seek compensation from the party liable for his or her damages.
The principles of negligence are exemplified by Donoghue v. Stevenson. [208] A friend of Donoghue ordered an opaque bottle of ginger beer (for Donoghue consumption) from a café in Paisley. After consuming half of it, Donoghue poured the rest into a cup. The decomposing remains of a snail floated. She claimed to have suffered shock from being sick with gastroenteritis and sued the manufacturer for carelessly contaminating the drink. The House of Lords ruled that the manufacturer was responsible for Ms. Donoghue`s illness. Lord Atkin took a decidedly moral approach, saying: The difference between “illegal” and “illegal” is not great and is often used interchangeably. It is important to understand when the correct term is used correctly. Remember that something that is “illegal” is explicitly prohibited, while something “illegal” is allowed against what is allowed.
For example: someone might say that driving on a highway is not illegal because there are no traffic regulations or road signs to explicitly say that it should not be done. However, since you are only allowed to turn in a designated area for safety reasons, driving around a non-designated area is illegal or contrary to the Highway Safety Act. An illegal act and an illegal act can result in penalties, such as a traffic fine. Therefore, it is best to avoid illegal and illegal behavior. In order to maintain professionalism, legal practice is usually overseen by a government or an independent regulatory body such as a law society, a bar council, or a bar association. Modern lawyers acquire a strong professional identity through certain legal procedures (for example, passing an aptitude test), must legally have a special qualification (a legal training that allows the student to obtain a Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Civil Law or Doctor of Law). Advanced university degrees may also be sought. Examples include a Master of Laws, Master of Legal Studies, Lawyer Course, or Doctor of Laws.) and are constituted in function by legal forms of appointment (admission to the Bar). There are few titles of respect designated by famous lawyers, such as Esquire to indicate lawyers of greater dignity,[156][157] and Doctor of Law to indicate a person who has earned a doctorate in law. The Old Testament dates back to 1280 BC. AD and takes the form of moral imperatives as recommendations for a good society.
The small Greek city-state, ancient Athens, dating back to the 8th century BC. was the first society based on a broad inclusion of its citizens, excluding women and the slave class. Athens, however, had no jurisprudence or a single word for “law,”[60] but rather relied on the threefold distinction between divine law (themis), human decree (nomos), and custom (díkē). [61] However, ancient Greek law contained important constitutional innovations in the development of democracy. [62] The Catholic Church has the oldest permanently functioning legal system in the Western world,[109][110] which preceded the development of modern European civil law and common law. The 1983 Code of Canon Law regulates the Latin Church sui juris. The Eastern Catholic Churches, which have developed different disciplines and practices, are subject to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. [111] The canon law of the Catholic Church influenced common law in the Middle Ages[112] by preserving Roman jurisprudence such as the presumption of innocence.
[113] Around 1900, Max Weber defined his “scientific” approach to law and identified the “legal rational form” as a kind of domination that is not due to personal authority, but to the authority of abstract norms. [238] Formal legal rationality was his term for the key feature of this type of coherent and predictable law that was a prerequisite for modern political developments and the modern bureaucratic state.