Civil Law Expansion
Civil Law Geographic Expansion
Beginning in the 15th century, many European countries extensively colonized North and South America, Africa, and parts of Asia (see Colonialism and Colonies). Colonial expansion spread the civil law system as colonizers imposed their system of law on their colonies. After achieving independence, some former colonies retained the legal system established by the colonizer. For example, the African nation of Senegal has retained the civil law system established by France. Other former colonies chose a modified civil law system. The state of Louisiana, unlike all other American states, has a civil law system for noncriminal matters. This system originated during the period when Louisiana was a colony of France and then Spain.
Some former colonies based their new legal systems not on the specific civil law system of their colonizer, but on the civil law tradition in general. For example, Bolivia, a former Spanish colony, adopted a system closely modeled on the French code. A few countries that were never colonized by countries with civil law systems, such as South Korea and Greece, have independently adopted the civil law model.
A few countries maintain a mixed legal system, combining elements of civil law with other legal influences. For example, Scotland’s legal system includes elements of civil and common law. Several African and Middle Eastern countries have civil law systems that contain elements of Islamic law. (1)
In this Section: Civil Law, Civil Law Characteristics, Civil Law History and Civil Law Expansion.