Ch. 13 Comparative Law: Law in Other Cultures

There was a system of law in preliterate bands and tribes even though it was not formalized through writing. Bands usually have fifty to a hundred people and mostly use hunting and gathering as their source of food. Tribes have several hundred people and a tribal council. They augment their hunting and gathering with some agriculture. Clans are subunits of tribes. Both bands and tribes use self-redress as their method of law. I do not know why I find it funny that those people who are found to be a detriment to the Inuits would be pushed off the ice to drown when no one is looking. It just seems like the perfect karma situation that is ironic. http://www.astronomy.pomona.edu/archeo/alaska/eskimo.html
There are four families of law and they include common law, civil law, socialist law, and islamic law. Common law's basic features are that it is unwritten, it respects precedent, it is adversarial, it uses grand and petit juries, and it uses judicial review. It originated in England during the Norman conquest in 1066 C.E.. It follows the rule of law which is the principle that law, not men, govern and that no one is above the law. The only system of law that does not follow the rule of law is socialist law. It believes that the needs of the state are above the rule of law. This leads to corruption. Absolute power corrupts absolutely in my book.

Civil law has its historical origins in ancient Rome and nineteenth century France and Germany. The author mainly focuses on France's version of civil law so there is no comparison to other systems. Civil law is written, does not officially recognize precedent, is inquisitorial, does not use juries much, and uses judicial review sparingly. In civil law you are guilty until proven innocent. As an American this does not seem fair to me. There is no predictability to this law system without precedent. I think judicial review should be everywhere because it limits the power of the state and creates a balance.

Socialist law originated with Karl Marx's principles in the Russian Revolution. With the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Marx's principles became the foundation for a country. It is now practiced in China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba. We had several encounters with socialist states such as these because of the differences between the two systems of law and economies. Socialist law is not judge-made law and is codified by an authority not by tradition. In the end the system of law is seen as a temporary anachronism devoted to its own demise. I find this statement to be ironically funny because the Soviet Union dissolved and lived up to its own demise as prophesied by Marx.

Islamic law is the harshest I have seen. Its basic features consist of it being god-made law written down in the Koran and the Sunna. It is a hybrid of the inquisitorial and adversarial systems. Islamic believes that law oversees all behavior. This system has purely individualized justice and judicial review is limited to certain crimes only. Islamic law originated the Middle Eastern countries and has spread to Northern Africa, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The punishments for Hadd crimes are quite severe and have mandated punishments as defined by God in the Koran. Hadd crimes include adultery (death), fornication (80 lashes), false accussatioin of fornication and adultery (100 lashes), alcohol consumption (whipping, death possible on third offense), apostasy (death), theft (amputation of hand), robbery (amputation of hand and alternate foot). Those punishments are quite severe to me.