civil law

civil law The term has two meanings: 1. It is used as synonymous with Roman law, which was accepted in most of the countries of Europe. With the fall of the Roman empire, the Roman or civil law which survived was heavily influenced by custom. Thus Roman law came to have two aspects—the pure classical Roman law and the bastardized Roman customary law which applied in the many barbarian and post‐barbarian societies of western Europe.

English law was undoubtedly influenced by civil law, though it never ‘received’ or adopted Roman law. There was little evidence of survival of Roman law from the Roman occupation of Britain, but the Norman Conquest brought England close to continental traditions, especially through the influence of canon law. The author of Glanvill clearly had a sound grounding in Roman law, though the book makes it clear that English law is by no means the same. Bracton is commonly acknowledged to be heavily influenced by Roman law. But civil law was never a serious threat to the common law in England. 2. The other meaning of civil law is as distinct from criminal—i.e. the law relating to the adjustment of legal disputes between individuals. The common law was mainly civil law since the work of the courts of common law was primarily the development of the writ system to enable individuals to litigate in the king's courts.