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There are generally 5 legal systems nowadays: civil, common, customary, religious, and mixed legal systems.
Civil law legal systems have their roots in the Roman lawful tradition. Civil systems vary broadly in procedure and substantive law, so researching a specific nation’s civil law system should contain looking at that nation’s particular law system, but they do have some trademark features. Countries with civil law systems have comprehensive, repeatedly updated legal codes. Most significantly, case law is a secondary basis in these jurisdictions. France and Germany are two instances of nations with a civil law system.
While they often have statutes, common law systems depend more on precedent, judicial judgments already made. Common law systems are adversarial instead of investigatory, with the judge moderating two opposite parties. The legal system in the U.S. (exception of Louisiana) is a common law system.
Customary law systems are based on behavior rituals that have come to be acknowledged as legal requirements of behavior within a specific nation. The laws of traditional customary legal systems are commonly unwritten and are usually distributed by elders, passed down through generations. As such, customary law research relies significantly on secondary sources. Customary law traditions can frequently be seen in hybrid legal system jurisdictions mixed with civil or common law.
Religious law systems are systems where the law derives from sacred texts or practices within a given religious tradition. Many Islamic nations have legal law systems established entirely or partly on the Quran, while Jewish societies have Halakha.
Mixed law systems use two or more of the aforementioned legal systems.
