Country | Description |
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Albania | Based on Napoleonic civil law.[9] |
Angola | Based on Portuguese civil law. |
Argentina | The Spanish legal tradition had a great influence on the Civil Code of Argentina, basically a work of the Argentine jurist Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield, who dedicated five years of his life to this task. The Civil Code came into effect on 1 January 1871. Beyond the influence of the Spanish legal tradition, the Argentinian Civil Code was also inspired by the Draft of the Brazilian Civil Code, the Draft of the Spanish Civil Code of 1851, the Napoleonic code and the Chilean Civil Code. The sources of this Civil Code also include various theoretical legal works, mainly of the great French jurists of the 19th century. It was the first Civil Law that consciously adopted as its cornerstone the distinction between i. rights from obligations and ii. real property rights, thus distancing itself from the French model. The Argentinian Civil Code was also in effect in Paraguay, as per a Paraguayan law of 1880, until the new Civil Code went into force in 1987. In Argentina, this 1871 Civil Code remained in force until August 2015, when it was replaced by the new Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación.[10][11] During the second half of the 20th century, the German legal theory became increasingly influential in Argentina. |
Andorra | Courts apply the customary laws of Andorra, supplemented with Roman law and customary Catalan law.[12] |
Armenia | Based on Napoleonic Civil law and traditional Armenian law. |
Aruba | Based on Dutch civil law |
Austria | Based on Roman and Germanic Civil law. The Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB) of 1811. The ABGB is influenced both by Roman and Austrian law traditions. Comparable to the Napoleonic code, it is based on the ideals of freedom and equality before the law. |
Azerbaijan | Based on German, French, Russian, and traditional Azerbaijani Law |
Belarus | Based on Germanic Civil law (administrative, criminal codes) |
Belgium | The Napoleonic Code is still in use, although it is heavily modified (especially concerning family law) |
Benin | Based on Napoleonic Civil law. |
Bolivia | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Influenced by Austrian law. The Swiss civil law (Zivilgesetzbuch) was a model for the Law on Obligations of 1978. |
Brazil | Based on German, Italian, French and Portuguese law. However, in 2004 the Federal Constitution was amended to grant the Supreme Federal Court authority to issue binding precedents (súmulas vinculantes) to settle controversies involving constitutional law – a mechanism that echoes the stare decisis principle typically found in common law systems. |
Bulgaria | Civil Law system influenced by Germanic and Roman law systems |
Burkina Faso | Based on the French civil law |
Burundi | Based on the French civil law |
Chad | Based on the French civil law |
People's Republic of China | Based on Germanic Civil law and France Civil law, also with influences from the Soviet Socialist law from Soviet Union |
Republic of the Congo | Based on the Napoleonic Civil law. |
Democratic Republic of the Congo | Based on Belgian civil law |
Cambodia | |
Cape Verde | Based on Portuguese civil law |
Central African Republic | Based on the French civil law system |
Chile | Based on the Chilean Civil Law inspired by the Napoleonic Civil Law. The Spanish legal tradition exercised an especially great influence on the civil code of Chile. On its turn, the Chilean civil code influenced to a large degree the drafting of the civil codes of other Latin-American states. For instance, the codes of Ecuador (1861) and Colombia (1873) constituted faithful reproductions of the Chilean code, but for very few exceptions. The compiler of the Civil Code of Chile, Venezuelan Andrés Bello, worked for its completion for almost 30 years, using elements, of the Spanish law on the one hand, and of other Western laws, especially of the French one, on the other. It is noted that he consulted and used all of the codes that had been issued till then, starting from the era of Justinian. The Civil Code came into effect on 1 January 1857. The influence of the Napoleonic code and the Law of Castile of the Spanish colonial period (especially the Siete Partidas), is great; it is observed however that e.g. in many provisions of property or contract law, the solutions of the French code civil were put aside in favor of pure Roman law or Castilian law. |
Colombia | Based on the Chilean Civil Law. Civil code introduced in 1873. Nearly faithful reproduction of the Chilean civil code |
Costa Rica | Based on the Napoleonic Civil Law. First Civil Code (a part of the General Code or Carrillo Code) came into effect in 1841; its text was inspired by the South Peruvian Civil Code of Marshal Andres de Santa Cruz. The present Civil Code went into effect 1 January 1888 and was influenced by the Napoleonic Code and the Spanish Civil Code of 1889 (from its 1851 draft version). |
Croatia | Based on the Germanic Civil Law. The Croatian Law system is largely influenced by German and Austrian law systems. It is significantly influenced by the Civil Code of the Austrian Empire from 1811, known in Croatia as "General Civil Law" ("Opći građanski zakon"). OGZ was in force from 1853[13] to 1946. After the World War II, Croatia becomes a member of the Yugoslav Federation which enacted in 1946 the "Law on immediate voiding of regulations passed before April 6, 1941, and during the enemy occupation" ("Zakon o nevaženju pravnih proposal donesenih prije 6. travnja 1941. i za vrijeme neprijateljske okupacije"). By this law, OGZ was declared invalid as a whole, but the implementation of some of its legal rules was approved. During the post-War era, the Croatian legal system become influenced by elements of the socialist law. Croatian civil law was pushed aside, and it took norms of public law and legal regulation of the social ownership. After Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991, the previous legal system was used as a base for writing new laws. "The Law on Obligations" ("Zakon o obveznim odnosima") was enacted in 2005.[14] Today, Croatia as a European Union member state implements elements of the EU acquis into its legal system. |
Cuba | Influenced by Spanish and American law with large elements of Communist legal theory. |
Curaçao | Based on Dutch Civil Law. |
Czech Republic | Based on Germanic civil law. Descended from the Civil Code of the Austrian Empire (1811), influenced by German (1939–45) and Soviet (1947/68–89) legal codes during occupation periods, substantially reformed to remove Soviet influence and elements of socialist law after the Velvet Revolution (1989). The new Civil Code of the Czech Republic was introduced in 2014, reestablishing the norms of the ABGB, an reintroducing terms and concepts from it. |
Denmark | Based on North Germanic law. Scandinavian-North Germanic civil law. |
Dominican Republic | Based on the Napoleonic Code |
Ecuador | Based on the Chilean civil law. Civil code introduced in 1861. |
El Salvador | Based on law. |
Estonia | Based on German civil law. |
Finland | Based on Nordic law.[15] |
France | Based on Napoleonic code (code civil of 1804) |
Egypt | Based on Napoleonic civil law and Islamic law. |
Equatorial Guinea | |
Ethiopia | |
Gabon | Based on the French civil law system |
Guinea | Based on French civil law system, customary law, and decree[15] |
Guinea-Bissau | Based on Portuguese civil law |
Georgia | |
Germany | Based on Germanic civil law. The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch of 1900 ("BGB"). The BGB is influenced both by Roman and German law traditions. |
Greece | Based on Germanic civil law. The Greek civil code of 1946, highly influenced by traditional Roman law and the German civil code of 1900 (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch); the Greek civil code replaced the Byzantine–Roman civil law in effect in Greece since its independence (Νομική Διάταξη της Ανατολικής Χέρσου Ελλάδος, Legal Provision of Eastern Mainland Greece, November 1821: 'Οι Κοινωνικοί Νόμοι των Αειμνήστων Χριστιανών Αυτοκρατόρων της Ελλάδος μόνοι ισχύουσι κατά το παρόν εις την Ανατολικήν Χέρσον Ελλάδα', 'The Social [i.e. Civil] Laws of the Dear Departed Christian Emperors of Greece [referring to the Byzantine Emperors] alone are in effect at present in Eastern Mainland Greece') |
Guatemala | Based on Napoleonic civil law. Guatemala has had three Civil Codes: the first one from 1877, a new one introduced in 1933, and the one currently in force, which was passed in 1963. This Civil Code has suffered some reforms throughout the years, as well as a few derogations relating to areas that have subsequently been regulated by newer laws, such as the Code of Commerce and the Law of the National Registry of Persons. In general, it follows the tradition of the Roman-French system of civil codification. Regarding the theory of 'sources of law' in the Guatemalan legal system, the 'Ley del Organismo Judicial' recognizes 'the law' as the main legal source (in the sense of legislative texts), although it also establishes 'jurisprudence' as a complementary source. Although jurisprudence 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 series of identical resolutions in similar cases pronounced by higher courts (the Constitutional Court acting as a 'Tribunal de Amparo', and the Supreme Court acting as a 'Tribunal de Casación') whose theses become binding for lower courts. |
Haiti | Based on Napoleonic civil law. |
Honduras | |
Hungary | Based on Germanic, codified Roman law with elements from Napoleonic civil law. |
Iceland | Based on North Germanic law. Germanic traditional laws and influenced by Medieval Norwegian and Danish laws. |
India (former French and Portuguese colonies) | Based on Portuguese civil law (Goa, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu), and French civil law (Puducherry).[16] Vedic Hindu legal traditions also influenced the legal system in India.[17][18] |
Italy | Based on Germanic civil law, with elements of the Napoleonic civil code; civil code of 1942 replaced the original one of 1865 |
Ivory Coast | Based on French civil law system |
Japan | Based on Germanic civil law. Japanese civil code of 1895. |
Latvia | Based on Napoleonic and German civil law, as it was historically before the Soviet occupation. While general principles of law are prerequisites in making and interpreting the law, case law is also regularly applied to present legal arguments in courts and explain the application of law in similar cases. Civil law largely modeled after the Napoleonic code mixed with strong elements of German civil law. Criminal law retains Russian and German legal traditions, while criminal procedure law has been fully modeled after practice accepted in Western Europe. The civil law of Latvia enacted in 1937. |
Lebanon | Based on Napoleonic civil law. |
Lithuania | Modeled after Dutch civil law |
Louisiana ( U.S.) | Law in the state of Louisiana is based on French and Spanish civil law. Federal courts and 49 states use the legal system based on English common law (see below), which has diverged somewhat since the mid-nineteenth century in that they look to each other's cases for guidance on issues of the first impression and rarely look at contemporary cases on the same issue in the UK or the Commonwealth. |
Luxembourg | Based on Napoleonic civil law. |
Macau (P.R.China) | Principally based on Portuguese civil law, also influenced by PRC law.[19] |
Mexico | Based on Napoleonic civil law."The origins of Mexico's legal system are both ancient and classical, based on the Roman and French legal systems, and the Mexican system shares more in common with other legal systems throughout the world (especially those in Latin America and most of continental Europe) ..."[20] |
Mongolia | Based on Germanic civil law. |
Montenegro | Based on Napoleonic and German civil law. First: the General Property Code for the Principality of Montenegro of 1888, written by Valtazar Bogišić. Present: the Law on Obligations of 2008. |
Mozambique | Based on Portuguese civil law |
Netherlands | Based on Napoleonic code with German law influence |
Nepal | Based on Civil Code, however, the principle of stare decisis is widely practised. The legal system of Nepal has been influenced by British Legal System |
Norway | Scandinavian-North Germanic civil law, based on North Germanic law. King Magnus VI the Lawmender unified the regional laws into a single code of law for the whole kingdom in 1274. This was replaced by Christian V's Norwegian Code of 1687. |
Panama | |
Paraguay | The Paraguayan Civil Code in force since 1987 is largely influenced by the Napoleonic Code and the Argentinian Code |
Peru | Based on civil law system. accepts compulsory International Court of Justice ICJ jurisdiction with despotic and corrupting reservations. |
Poland | The Polish Civil Code in force since 1965 |
Portugal | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code and later by the German civil law |
Taiwan (Republic of China) | Influenced by German Civil Code and Japanese Six Codes. Enacted in 1931. |
Romania | Civil Code came into force in 2011. Based on the Civil Code of Quebec, but also influenced by the Napoleonic Code and other French-inspired codes (such as those of Italy, Spain and Switzerland)[21] |
Russia | Civil Law system descendant from Roman Law through Byzantine tradition. Heavily influenced by German and Dutch norms in the 1700s. Socialism-style modifications from 1920s on, and Continental European Civil Law influences since the 1990s.[22][23] |
Rwanda | Mixture of Belgian civil law and English common law |
São Tomé e Príncipe | Based on Portuguese civil law |
Serbia | First: the Civil Code of Principality of Serbia of 1844, written by Jovan Hadžić, was influenced by the Austrian Civil Code (Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch). Present: The Swiss civil law (Zivilgesetzbuch) was a model for the Law on Obligations of 1978. |
Slovakia | Descended from the Civil Code of the Austrian Empire (1811), influenced by German (1939–45) and Soviet (1947/68–89) legal codes during occupation periods, substantially reformed to remove Soviet influence and elements of socialist law after the Velvet Revolution (1989). |
Slovenia | A Civil Law system influenced mostly by Germanic and Austro-Hungarian law systems |
South Korea | Based on the German civil law system. Also largely influenced by Japanese civil law which itself modeled after the German one. Korean Civil Code was introduced 1958 and fully enacted by 1960. |
Spain | Influenced by the Napoleonic Code, it also has some elements of Spain's legal tradition, starting with the Siete Partidas, major legislative achievement from the Middle Ages. That body of law remained more or less unchanged until the 19th century when the first civil codes were drafted, merging both the Napoleonic style with the Castilian traditions. |
Suriname | Based on Dutch civil law |
Sweden | Scandinavian-North Germanic civil law. Like all Scandinavian legal systems, it is distinguished by its traditional character and for the fact that it did not adopt elements of Roman law. It assimilated very few elements of foreign laws whatsoever. The Napoleonic Code had no influence in the codification of law in Scandinavia. The historical basis of the law of Sweden, just as for all Nordic countries, is North Germanic law. Codification of the law started in Sweden during the 18th century, preceding the codifications of most other European countries. However, neither Sweden nor any other Nordic state created a civil code of the kind of the Code Civil or the BGB. |
Switzerland | The Swiss Civil Code of 1908 and 1912 (obligations; fifth book) |
Syria | Based on Napoleonic civil law. |
Timor-Leste | Based on Portuguese civil law |
Turkey | Modeled after the Swiss civil law (Zivilgesetzbuch) of 1907. |
Ukraine | Based on German civil law and was accepted in 2004. |
Uruguay | The basis for its public law is the 1967 Constitution, amended in 1989, 1994, 1996, and 2004. There is a clear separation of functions between the three administrative powers.[24] Private relationships are governed by the Uruguayan Civil Code.[25] |
Uzbekistan | Represents an evolution of Soviet civil law. The overwhelmingly strong impact of the Communist legal theory is traceable. |
Vietnam | Based on Communist legal theory, influenced by French civil law. |
Venezuela | Based on Napoleonic civil law. Spanish legal traditions also influenced the civil law system in Venezuela.[26] |