In a religious legal system, the law relies on religious texts as the main basis, and the courts interpret the facts and laws in question in the light of these religious texts. Many countries in the Middle East use religious legal systems for some or all of their laws.49 In Saudi Arabia, for example, the legal system is based on Sharia law, which is derived from the Quran, the Islamic religious text, the Sunnah, and the hadith.50 The legislature enacts laws, but all are tested against Islamic teachings. Some religious leaders may override any government act, including court decisions, on religious grounds. The legal system includes general and summary Sharia courts, with some administrative courts for specific matters. Religious legal systems do not use juries and criminal trials do not provide defensive evidence to the same extent as in other legal systems. Any judge, a specialist in the religious text of Sharia, interprets the law and is not bound by any precedent. The system is more inquisitorial than adverse. The trial consists of a series of sessions, hearings and written communications during which the judge testifies. The judge prepares the issues to be decided on the basis of discussions with the parties. Generally, the judge questions witnesses and may include or exclude any questions submitted by lawyers when preparing questions. Finally, the judge decides the issues and gathers evidence before announcing a decision.48 It is only at the last hearing that lawyers and parties argue before the judge. If there is a jury, its members are usually not recruited from the public, but selected on the basis of their expertise in the respective field. While ordinary juries are rare in civil justice systems, they are increasingly used in serious criminal cases.
There are five basic types of legal systems in the world. These are civil law, common law, common law, religious law and hybrid or mixed systems. Today, mixed or hybrid systems are common. Since each system varies from country to country, this chapter focuses on the characteristics of each type of system. Courts specific to the underlying codes – therefore, there are usually separate systems of constitutional courts, administrative tribunals and civil courts that deal with and interpret the consistency of legislation and administrative acts with that specific code; 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. The level or hierarchy of courts largely defines the extent to which a decision of one court has binding effect on another court. The federal court system, for example, is based on a three-tier structure in which the United States District Courts are the courts at the process level; The United States Court of Appeals is the trial court. and the U.S.
Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the law. Most countries in Europe and South America use a civil justice system.47 A civil law system is based on comprehensive legal systems that contain all the laws governing the country. Case law – that is, judicial decisions – is secondary to these codes. The decisions are binding only on the parties to the dispute, and do not constitute a precedent for subsequent cases on the same issues. While lawyers consult previous decisions when advising clients, judges are rarely required to follow precedents. For this reason, legal codes tend to be more extensive and detailed than in common law systems. Governments may wish to include these rules in the agreement and, if they are part of the underlying law, there may not be a need to repeat them in the treaty. But relying solely on the underlying law is problematic because the rules are sometimes ambiguous. For example, the case-law on restoring the Treaty`s “financial equilibrium” is not clear as to what “financial equilibrium” actually means. Get advice from law students and lawyers in the LexTalk law community about law school A contract that incorporates a basic principle of administrative law and specifies exactly how it is to be applied will generally be effective. But the modification or deletion of an administrative principle may or may not be legally possible – this should be checked.
For example, it may not be possible to completely eliminate the ability of a contracting authority to unilaterally change service standards. In France, the law prohibits any attempt to suspend the contracting authority`s ability to unilaterally terminate a contract. Some civil codes also provide for mandatory notice periods in the event of breach of contract, which cannot be avoided or cancelled. A number of other countries have a dual system. In such a system, religious rules govern and religious courts rule on matters such as marriage, divorce and family relations. However, a secular system with state courts covers the broader areas of public and commercial law. This was the situation in England until the 1850s and it is now the case in Israel, India and Pakistan. In these dual jurisdictions, the proportion of human activity regulated by either system may depend on the level of economic and political development of the country concerned. In civil law systems, court proceedings are investigations conducted by the court to determine how the facts fit into the already established codes applicable to the situation. The judicial system is designed in such a way that the jurisdiction of each court is a specific type of code: tax courts, administrative courts, maritime courts, constitutional courts, etc.
There are two main types of legal systems in the world, with most countries adopting features of one or the other in their own legal systems, common law and civil law.