Legal system - Definition and Overview

A legal system is the mechanism for creating, interpreting and enforcing the laws in a given jurisdiction.

• The civilian legal system or civil law system is the general typology of legal systems found in most countries. It is an alternative to common law system and has its roots in Roman law. It is employed by almost every country that was not a colony of the British Empire. In most jurisdictions the civil law is codified in the form of a civil codes, but in some, like Scotland it remains uncodified. Most codes follow the tradition of Code Napoléon in some fashion. Notably, the German code was developed from Roman law with reference to German legal tradition. See also: Roman law, Scots law.

• Common law is a system of law used in England, all of the states of the United States (except Louisiana) and other former British possessions such as in the Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, and Hong Kong. See also English law

• Islamic law (Sharia), is derived from the Koran and used in some Middle Eastern nations; such as in the Iran and Saudi Arabia.

• Socialist law is the term for civil law as practiced within states of the former Soviet Union and its satellites; as well as within the Laws of China, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam. With the end of the Cold War, most of these nations are incorporating laws compatible with private property and capitalism.

A legal system can be considered a part of the social system and hierarchically equal to economic system, political system, cultural system, etc.