资源描述：
《法律体系legal systems》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在教育资源-天天文库。
1、Thecontemporarylegalsystemsoftheworldaregenerallybasedononeofthreebasicsystems:civillaw,commonlaw,andreligiouslaw–orcombinationsofthese.However,thelegalsystemofeachcountryisshapedbyitsuniquehistoryandsoincorporatesindividualvariations.Religiouslawrefers
2、tothenotionofareligioussystemordocumentbeingusedasalegalsource,thoughthemethodologyusedvaries.Commonlaw(alsoknownascaselaworprecedent)islawdevelopedbyjudgesthroughdecisionsofcourtsandsimilartribunalsthatdecideindividualcases,asopposedtostatutesadoptedth
3、roughthelegislativeprocessorregulationsissuedbytheexecutivebranch.BasicprinciplesofcommonlawCommonlawadjudicationInacommonlawjurisdictionseveralstagesofresearchandanalysisarerequiredtodetermine"whatthelawis"inagivensituation.First,onemustascertainthefac
4、ts.Then,onemustlocateanyrelevantstatutesandcases.Thenonemustextracttheprinciples,analogiesandstatementsbyvariouscourtsofwhattheyconsiderimportanttodeterminehowthenextcourtislikelytoruleonthefactsofthepresentcase.Laterdecisions,anddecisionsofhighercourts
5、orlegislaturescarrymoreweightthanearliercasesandthoseoflowercourts.Finally,oneintegratesallthelinesdrawnandreasonsgiven,determines"whatthelawis”andoneappliesthatlawtothefacts.Thecommonlawevolvestomeetchangingsocialneedsandimprovedunderstanding“commonlaw
6、doesnotworkfrompre-establishedtruthsofuniversalandinflexiblevaliditytoconclusionsderivedfromthemdeductively,”“itsmethodisinductive,anditdrawsitsgeneralizationsfromparticulars.”Thecommonlawismoremalleable.First,commonlawcourtsarenotabsolutelyboundbyprece
7、dent,butcan(whenextraordinarilygoodreasonisshown)reinterpretandrevisethelaw,withoutlegislativeintervention,toadapttonewtrendsinpolitical,legalandsocialphilosophy.Second,thecommonlawevolvesthroughaseriesofgradualsteps,thatgraduallyworksoutallthedetails,s
8、othatoveradecadeormore,thelawcanchangesubstantiallybutwithoutasharpbreak,therebyreducingdisruptiveeffects.Infact,thelegislativeprocessisverydifficulttogetstarted,aslegislaturestendtodelayactionuntilasituationistotallyintolerable.
