Unit 4- Families Of Law Or Legal Cultures

Question 1

Most important legal families

Answer 1

• Romano-Germanic or civil-law family
• Anglo-American or common law family
• Socialist family

Question 2

Romano-Germanic or civil-law family

Answer 2

• French, German, Dutch legal systems
• Roman law played an important role in development
• Roman law most important characteristic common to legal systems in this family

Question 3

Anglo-American or common-law family

Answer 3

-English, Australia, New Zealand, American legal systems
-Most important characteristic of this legal family is case law
While these legal systems were developing, court decisions were recorded, these decisions are of utmost importance in common law

Question 4

Socialist family

Answer 4

• former USSR and communist China belong to this family
• socialist system of beliefs is based on the principle that the law is there to serve social and economic policies
• social and economic policies come first
• Marxism is an important characteristic of these systems

Question 5

Other legal families

Answer 5

• religious legal family: includes Islamic, Hindu, Jewish legal systems. Origin in religious sources
• indigenous legal family: African law, mainly comprise of unwritten customary laws. Focus is on the community
• hybrid/mixed legal family: includes South African, Scottish and Sri Lankan law. SA has Roman-Dutch, English and indigenous African law