U.S. and European Jury Systems

Paper Summary:

This paper compares and contrasts the legal system based on civil law and the legal system based on common law. The paper explains how civil law, enforced in Continental Europe, Latin America, most of Africa, and several Central European and Asian nations, and common law, enforced in the United States, England, and other countries that used to be part of the British Empire, differ in their origins and their different trial and arrest proceedings. The paper also explains how the two systems are inherently opposed to each other, although each shares the common goal of conducting the just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution of conflicts.

From the Paper:

"The civil law system originated from ancient Roman law in the 6th century under Emperor Justinian and later modified by French and German jurists (Messitte 1999). On the other hand, the common law system began in England almost a thousand years ago when royal judges in the Parliament based their decisions on customary law common to the people, with capable lawyers giving support. In Europe, Justinian's law books and the legal system of the Catholic Church harmonized a thousand local laws, but England was constructing its own flexible legal system. It rejected the sentiment of the French Revolution that the power of judges should be controlled and that judges should limit the application of the law to the intent of the legislature (Messitte)."

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