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Also the thing about lawyers being cheap is accurate, but this is because in Europe (except the UK and Ireland), we use a Civil Law system, whereas the US (whom
by Svip 14y ago
Also the thing about lawyers being cheap is accurate, but this is because in Europe (except the UK and Ireland), we use a Civil Law system, whereas the US (whom borrowed it from the UK) uses a Common Law system.
The basic difference is that in a Civil Law system 'the law is the law'; court rules cannot change law practice. In addition, you cannot use previous court decisions to argue in a court of law. You can use them as guidelines, but nothing more.
This means that it is quite easy for most people to understand how the law works; just look at the law text and the text's comments (which are also important when interpreting the law, i.e. understanding what the intent with the law is).
- raverbashing 14y agoWell, actually, in practice it's the other way round Because then the law (text) is usually more complicated, and the bureaucracy adds complexity to it.
- krzyk 14y agoBut you don't have to have a list of all the previous verdicts, just the law book.
- raverbashing 14y agoI'm really not sure what's the state of the art on verdict libraries is (or how it was done before), but as always I suppose most impacting results are more divulged. But believe me "just the law book" is not as easy as it sounds.
- reinhardt 14y agoCode analogy time: "But you don't have to have a list of sample code and examples, just the language reference." :)
- yxhuvud 14y agoThere are different Civil Law systems though. Some, based on Roman law, is very focused on the letter of the law while others like the Scandinavian law system are focused on the intention behind the laws.
- Daniel_Newby 14y ago> ... whereas the US (whom borrowed it from the UK) uses a Common Law system. The state of Louisiana was inspired by the Napoleonic Code: juries there decide both facts and law. Precedent is not worshipped like it is in the rest of the U.S.