Civil vs. Common Law

Reading Time: < 1 minute

There is an ongoing debate as to whether Civil or Common law systems are better. Defenders of civil law argue that a black and white codex listing crimes and their sentences is a good thing to start by, and a true democracy should use this as a guidelines when dealing with cases in court, in addition to the idea of “precedent” opening the doors for possible corruption, discrimination and unfair sentencing practices. Defenders of common law argue that the rigidity of civil law leaves flexibility out of the question when dealing with crimes on a case by case basis, as every case and individual tried is different and the cases should be dealt with such, saying that the anti corruption mechanisms have in place would render it next to impossible for discrimination to become common practice.