Legal Families - Classifying Legal Systems

Front 1

Why do we classify the law?

• Z&K "as to arrange the mass of legal systems into a comprehensive order"

Back 1

What is taxonomy?

•Taxonomy is the study of classification.

•why do we classify?

•what is the best way to classify?

•what are the criticisms of classifying in a certain way?

Front 2

Henry Levy Ullman (1923)

•classified based on sources of law:

1) continental countries which were based on a civil law system,

2) English language countries which were based on a common law system,

3) Islamic countries who were based on their religious beliefs

Back 2

George Sauser-Hall (1913)

•classified based on race:

1) Hindu,

2) Celtic,

3) Anglo-Saxon,

4) Hebraic,

5) Egyptian,

6) Germanic and

7)Graeco-Latin

Front 3

Zweigart and Kots (1969)

•classified based on five principles:

1) history, 2) model of thought, 3) distinctive institutions, 4) legal sources, 5) ideology.

From this they got 7 families:

1) Romanistic legal family, 2) Germanic, 3) Anglo-Saxon, 4) Nordic (Scandinavian), 5) far-eastern, 6) Islamic and 7) Hindu.

Back 3

Issues concerning classification:

•bias - everyone wants to believe their system is special.

•temporary - legal systems change all the time.

•continuing - this is a new field and new classifications are argued all the time.

• obsolete - rise of the European Union, legal distinctions are "increasingly outmoded".

• civil vs common law - these distinctions are reasonably new