<P> In general, legal systems can be split between civil law and common law systems . The term "civil law" referring to a legal system should not be confused with "civil law" as a group of legal subjects distinct from criminal or public law . A third type of legal system--accepted by some countries without separation of church and state--is religious law, based on scriptures . The specific system that a country is ruled by is often determined by its history, connections with other countries, or its adherence to international standards . The sources that jurisdictions adopt as authoritatively binding are the defining features of any legal system . Yet classification is a matter of form rather than substance, since similar rules often prevail . </P> <P> Civil law is the legal system used in most countries around the world today . In civil law the sources recognised as authoritative are, primarily, legislation--especially codifications in constitutions or statutes passed by government--and custom . Codifications date back millennia, with one early example being the Babylonian Codex Hammurabi . Modern civil law systems essentially derive from the legal practice of the 6th - century Eastern Roman Empire whose texts were rediscovered by late medieval Western Europe . Roman law in the days of the Roman Republic and Empire was heavily procedural, and lacked a professional legal class . Instead a lay magistrate, iudex, was chosen to adjudicate . Decisions were not published in any systematic way, so any case law that developed was disguised and almost unrecognised . Each case was to be decided afresh from the laws of the State, which mirrors the (theoretical) unimportance of judges' decisions for future cases in civil law systems today . From 529--534 AD the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I codified and consolidated Roman law up until that point, so that what remained was one - twentieth of the mass of legal texts from before . This became known as the Corpus Juris Civilis . As one legal historian wrote, "Justinian consciously looked back to the golden age of Roman law and aimed to restore it to the peak it had reached three centuries before ." The Justinian Code remained in force in the East until the fall of the Byzantine Empire . Western Europe, meanwhile, relied on a mix of the Theodosian Code and Germanic customary law until the Justinian Code was rediscovered in the 11th century, and scholars at the University of Bologna used it to interpret their own laws . Civil law codifications based closely on Roman law, alongside some influences from religious laws such as canon law, continued to spread throughout Europe until the Enlightenment; then, in the 19th century, both France, with the Code Civil, and Germany, with the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, modernised their legal codes . Both these codes influenced heavily not only the law systems of the countries in continental Europe (e.g. Greece), but also the Japanese and Korean legal traditions . Today, countries that have civil law systems range from Russia and China to most of Central and Latin America . With the exception of Louisiana's Civil Code, the United States follows the common law system described below . </P> <P> In common law legal systems, decisions by courts are explicitly acknowledged as "law" on equal footing with statutes adopted through the legislative process and with regulations issued by the executive branch . The "doctrine of precedent", or stare decisis (Latin for "to stand by decisions") means that decisions by higher courts bind lower courts, and future decisions of the same court, to assure that similar cases reach similar results . In contrast, in "civil law" systems, legislative statutes are typically more detailed, and judicial decisions are shorter and less detailed, because the judge or barrister is only writing to decide the single case, rather than to set out reasoning that will guide future courts . </P> <P> Common law originated from England and has been inherited by almost every country once tied to the British Empire (except Malta, Scotland, the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the Canadian province of Quebec). In medieval England, the Norman conquest the law varied - shire - to - shire, based on disparate tribal customs . The concept of a "common law" developed during the reign of Henry II during the late 12th century, when Henry appointed judges that had authority to create an institutionalized and unified system of law "common" to the country . The next major step in the evolution of the common law came when King John was forced by his barons to sign a document limiting his authority to pass laws . This "great charter" or Magna Carta of 1215 also required that the King's entourage of judges hold their courts and judgments at "a certain place" rather than dispensing autocratic justice in unpredictable places about the country . A concentrated and elite group of judges acquired a dominant role in law - making under this system, and compared to its European counterparts the English judiciary became highly centralized . In 1297, for instance, while the highest court in France had fifty - one judges, the English Court of Common Pleas had five . This powerful and tight - knit judiciary gave rise to a systematized process of developing common law . </P>

Define the term law and describe the sources from which law is derived