The Family Affinities of Common-Law and Civil-Law Legal Systems

Authors

Craig M. Lawson

Abstract

Common law and civil law are generally regarded as being within the small number of major legal systems in the world today. Recent scholarship has indicated, however, a substantial merger of these two systems. The author shows that although still distinct, common law and civil law are converging members of a single larger legal system, which he terms the Western liberal democratic legal family. Although the similarities between these two branches are numerous, the larger Western liberal legal systems are now dominated by public law.

Recommended Citation

Craig M. Lawson, The Family Affinities of Common-Law and Civil-Law Legal Systems, 6 Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 85 (1982).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_international_comparative_law_review/vol6/iss1/3