by Awais Choudhry

Created on: November 19, 2009

The essence of philosophy of law lies in its questioning the nature and role of law in society. Yet in determining the answers, it allows us to strengthen law and inevitably the society in which we live in. Philosophy of law, also referred to as jurisprudence, is full of outstanding and innovative theories and ideas by different legal jurists or philosophers around the world. Questions such as what is law?, why law ought to be followed, and, what is the relationship of law and morality? are all found in the realm of jurisprudence. In fact, what distinguishes jurisprudence from the study of law in general is trying to find a practical basis or reason for the existence of law in society. That is why a question like what is law? has baffled legal jurists for a substantial portion of time. Due to the enormous and ever changing effect of law on our daily lives, defining it is indeed a problematic effort.

Common and Civil law systems are the two most common legal systems followed throughout the world. The development of the civil legal system was heavily inspired by Roman law. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Roman law has affected the development of law in most of Western Civilization as well as in parts of the Eastern World. It also forms the basis for the law codes of most countries of continental Europe. Civil law regards legislation as the primary source of law and the doctrine of precedent, whereby judges rely upon past decisions in their judgments, is not followed. Common law, on the other hand, allows the doctrine of precedent to be followed and is primarily based on custom. After the Norman conquest of England in AD 1066, common law was introduced and developed further. An important distinction between civil and common law systems is one of methodology and approach. In a civil legal system, the courts strictly adhere to statutes to derive solutions to particular cases whereas in a common law system, the courts, in following statutes, also treat case law as a major source of law in determining the outcome of cases.

Moreover, it is also notable that the United States legal system has been derived from the English Common law. Civil law system is mostly used in Continental Europe and most of the rest of the world. So now, one can safely distinguish the world between common and civil law systems bases on the methodology or jurisprudence of the courts.

This brings us back to the importance of jurisprudence or philosophy of law. So far we have seen the

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