also includes information on acceptance of International Court of
Justice (ICJ) jurisdiction. The legal systems of nearly all
countries are generally modeled upon elements of five main types:
civil law (including French law, the Napoleonic Code, Roman law,
Roman-Dutch law, and Spanish law); common law (including United
State law); customary law; mixed or pluralistic law; and religious
law (including Islamic law). An additional type of legal system -
international law, which governs the conduct of independent nations
in their relationships with one another - is also addressed below.
The following list describes these legal systems, the countries or
world regions where these systems are enforced, and a brief
statement on the origins and major features of each.
Civil Law - The most widespread type of legal system in the world,
applied in various forms in approximately 150 countries. Also
referred to as European continental law, the civil law system is
derived mainly from the Roman Corpus Juris Civilus, (Body of Civil
Law), a collection of laws and legal interpretations compiled under
the East Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian I between A.D. 528 and
565. The major feature of civil law systems is that the laws are
organized into systematic written codes. In civil law the sources
recognized as authoritative are principally legislation - especially
codifications in constitutions or statutes enacted by governments -
and secondarily, custom. The civil law systems in some countries are
based on more than one code.
Common Law - A type of legal system, often synonymous with "English
common law," which is the system of England and Wales in the UK, and
is also in force in approximately 80 countries formerly part of or
influenced by the former British Empire. English common law reflects
Biblical influences as well as remnants of law systems imposed by
early conquerors including the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Normans.
Some legal scholars attribute the formation of the English common
law system to King Henry II (r.1154-1189). Until the time of his
reign, laws customary among England's various manorial and
ecclesiastical (church) jurisdictions were administered locally.
Henry II established the king's court and designated that laws were
"common" to the entire English realm. The foundation of English
common law is "legal precedent" - referred to as stare decisis,
meaning "to stand by things decided." In the English common law
system, court judges are bound in their decisions in large part by
the rules and other doctrines developed - and supplemented over time
- by the judges of earlier English courts.
Customary Law - A type of legal system that serves as the basis of,
or has influenced, the present-day laws in approximately 40
countries - mostly in Africa, but some in the Pacific islands,
Europe, and the Near East. Customary law is also referred to as
"primitive law," "unwritten law," "indigenous law," and "folk law."
There is no single history of customary law such as that found in
Roman civil law, English common law, Islamic law, or the Napoleonic
Civil Code. The earliest systems of law in human society were
customary, and usually developed in small agrarian and
hunter-gatherer communities. As the term implies, customary law is
based upon the customs of a community. Common attributes of
customary legal systems are that they are seldom written down, they
embody an organized set of rules regulating social relations, and
they are agreed upon by members of the community. Although such law
systems include sanctions for law infractions, resolution tends to
be reconciliatory rather than punitive. A number of African states
practiced customary law many centuries prior to colonial influences.
Following colonization, such laws were written down and incorporated
to varying extents into the legal systems imposed by their colonial
powers.
European Union Law - A sub-discipline of international law known as
"supranational law" in which the rights of sovereign nations are
limited in relation to one another. Also referred to as the Law of
the European Union or Community Law, it is the unique and complex
legal system that operates in tandem with the laws of the 27 member
states of the European Union (EU). Similar to federal states, the EU
legal system ensures compliance from the member states because of
the Union's decentralized political nature. The European Court of
Justice (ECJ), established in 1952 by the Treaty of Paris, has been
largely responsible for the development of EU law. Fundamental
principles of European Union law include: subsidiarity - the notion
that issues be handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized
competent authority; proportionality - the EU may only act to the
extent needed to achieve its objectives; conferral - the EU is a
union of member states, and all its authorities are voluntarily
granted by its members; legal certainty - requires that legal rules
be clear and precise; and precautionary principle - a moral and
political principle stating that if an action or policy might cause
severe or irreversible harm to the public or to the environment, in
the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the
burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action.
French Law - A type of civil law that is the legal system of France.
The French system also serves as the basis for, or is mixed with,
other legal systems in approximately 50 countries, notably in North
Africa, the Near East, and the French territories and dependencies.
French law is primarily codified or systematic written civil law.
Prior to the French Revolution (1789-1799), France had no single
national legal system. Laws in the northern areas of present-day
France were mostly local customs based on privileges and exemptions
granted by kings and feudal lords, while in the southern areas Roman
law predominated. The introduction of the Napoleonic Civil Code
during the reign of Napoleon I in the first decade of the 19th
century brought major reforms to the French legal system, many of
which remain part of France's current legal structure, though all
have been extensively amended or redrafted to address a modern
nation. French law distinguishes between "public law" and "private
law." Public law relates to government, the French Constitution,
public administration, and criminal law. Private law covers issues
between private citizens or corporations. The most recent changes to
the French legal system - introduced in the 1980s - were the
decentralization laws, which transferred authority from centrally
appointed government representatives to locally elected
representatives of the people.
International Law - The law of the international community, or the
body of customary rules and treaty rules accepted as legally binding
by states in their relations with each other. International law
differs from other legal systems in that it primarily concerns
sovereign political entities. There are three separate disciplines
of international law: public international law, which governs the
relationship between provinces and international entities and
includes treaty law, law of the sea, international criminal law, and
international humanitarian law; private international law, which
addresses legal jurisdiction; and supranational law - a legal
framework wherein countries are bound by regional agreements in
which the laws of the member countries are held inapplicable when in
conflict with supranational laws. At present the European Union is
the only entity under a supranational legal system. The term
"international law" was coined by Jeremy Bentham in 1780 in his
Principles of Morals and Legislation, though laws governing
relations between states have been recognized from very early times
(many centuries B.C.). Modern international law developed alongside
the emergence and growth of the European nation-states beginning in
the early 16th century. Other factors that influenced the
development of international law included the revival of legal
studies, the growth of international trade, and the practice of
exchanging emissaries and establishing legations. The sources of
International law are set out in Article 38-1 of the Statute of the
International Court of Justice within the UN Charter.
Islamic Law - The most widespread type of religious law, it is the
legal system enforced in over 30 countries, particularly in the Near
East, but also in Central and South Asia, Africa, and Indonesia. In
many countries Islamic law operates in tandem with a civil law
system. Islamic law is embodied in the sharia, an Arabic word
meaning "the right path." Sharia covers all aspects of public and
private life and organizes them into five categories: obligatory,
recommended, permitted, disliked, and forbidden. The primary sources
of sharia law are the Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be the word of
God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel, and the
Sunnah, the teachings of the Prophet and his works. In addition to
these two primary sources, traditional Sunni Muslims recognize the
consensus of Muhammad's companions and Islamic jurists on certain
issues, called ijmas, and various forms of reasoning, including
analogy by legal scholars, referred to as qiyas. Shia Muslims reject
ijmas and qiyas as sources of sharia law.
Mixed Law - Also referred to as pluralistic law, mixed law consists
of elements of some or all of the other main types of legal systems
- civil, common, customary, and religious. The mixed legal systems
of a number of countries came about when colonial powers overlaid
their own legal systems upon colonized regions but retained elements
of the colonies' existing legal systems.
Napoleonic Civil Code - A type of civil law, referred to as the
Civil Code or Code Civil des Francais, forms part of the legal
system of France, and underpins the legal systems of Bolivia, Egypt,
Lebanon, Poland, and the US state of Louisiana. The Civil Code was
established under Napoleon I, enacted in 1804, and officially
designated the Code Napoleon in 1807. This legal system combined the
Teutonic civil law tradition of the northern provinces of France
with the Roman law tradition of the southern and eastern regions of
the country. The Civil Code bears similarities in its arrangement to
the Roman Body of Civil Law (see Civil Law above). As enacted in
1804, the Code addressed personal status, property, and the
acquisition of property. Codes added over the following six years
included civil procedures, commercial law, criminal law and
procedures, and a penal code.
Religious Law - A legal system which stems from the sacred texts of
religious traditions and in most cases professes to cover all
aspects of life as a seamless part of devotional obligations to a
transcendent, imminent, or deep philosophical reality. Implied as
the basis of religious law is the concept of unalterability, because
the word of God cannot be amended or legislated against by judges or
governments. However, a detailed legal system generally requires
human elaboration. The main types of religious law are sharia in
Islam, halakha in Judaism, and canon law in some Christian groups.
Sharia is the most widespread religious legal system (see Islamic
Law), and is the sole system of law for countries including Iran,
the Maldives, and Saudi Arabia. No country is fully governed by
halakha, but Jewish people may decide to settle disputes through
Jewish courts and be bound by their rulings. Canon law is not a
divine law as such because it is not found in revelation. It is
viewed instead as human law inspired by the word of God and applying
the demands of that revelation to the actual situation of the
church. Canon law regulates the internal ordering of the Roman
Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican
Communion.
Roman Law - A type of civil law developed in ancient Rome and
practiced from the time of the city's founding (traditionally 753
B.C.) until the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century A.D.
Roman law remained the legal system of the Byzantine (Eastern
Empire) until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Preserved
fragments of the first legal text, known as the Law of the Twelve
Tables, dating from the 5th century B.C., contained specific
provisions designed to change the prevailing customary law. Early
Roman law was drawn from custom and statutes; later, during the time
of the empire, emperors asserted their authority as the ultimate
source of law. The basis for Roman laws was the idea that the exact
form - not the intention - of words or of actions produced legal
consequences. It was only in the late 6th century A.D. that a
comprehensive Roman code of laws was published (see Civil Law
above). Roman law served as the basis of law systems developed in a
number of continental European countries.
Roman-Dutch Law - A type of civil law based on Roman law as applied
in the Netherlands. Roman-Dutch law serves as the basis for legal
systems in seven African countries, as well as Guyana, Indonesia,
and Sri Lanka. This law system, which originated in the province of
Holland and expanded throughout the Netherlands (to be replaced by
the French Civil Code in 1809), was instituted in a number of
sub-Saharan African countries during the Dutch colonial period. The
Dutch jurist/philosopher Hugo Grotius was the first to attempt to
reduce Roman-Dutch civil law into a system in his Jurisprudence of
Holland (written 1619-20, commentary published 1621). The Dutch
historian/lawyer Simon van Leeuwen coined the term "Roman-Dutch law"
in 1652.
Spanish Law - A type of civil law, often referred to as the Spanish
Civil Code, it is the present legal system of Spain and is the basis
of legal systems in 12 countries mostly in Central and South
America, but also in southwestern Europe, northern and western
Africa, and southeastern Asia. The Spanish Civil Code reflects a
complex mixture of customary, Roman, Napoleonic, local, and modern
codified law. The laws of the Visigoth invaders of Spain in the 5th
to 7th centuries had the earliest major influence on Spanish legal
system development. The Christian Reconquest of Spain in the 11th
through 15th centuries witnessed the development of customary law,
which combined canon (religious) and Roman law. During several
centuries of Hapsburg and Bourbon rule, systematic recompilations of
the existing national legal system were attempted, but these often
conflicted with local and regional customary civil laws. Legal
system development for most of the 19th century concentrated on
formulating a national civil law system, which was finally enacted
in 1889 as the Spanish Civil Code. Several sections of the code have
been revised, the most recent of which are the penal code in 1989
and the judiciary code in 2001. The Spanish Civil Code separates
public and private law. Public law includes constitutional law,
administrative law, criminal law, process law, financial and tax
law, and international public law. Private law includes civil law,
commercial law, labor law, and international private law.
United States Law - A type of common law, which is the basis of the
legal system of the United States and that of its island possessions
in the Caribbean and the Pacific. This legal system has several
layers, more possibly than in most other countries, and is due in
part to the division between federal and state law. The United
States was founded not as one nation but as a union of 13 colonies,
each claiming independence from the British Crown. The US
Constitution, implemented in 1789, began shifting power away from
the states and toward the federal government, though the states
today retain substantial legal authority. US law draws its authority
from four sources: constitutional law, statutory law, administrative
regulations, and case law. Constitutional law is based on the US
Constitution and serves as the supreme federal law. Taken together
with those of the state constitutions, these documents outline the
general structure of the federal and state governments and provide
the rules and limits of power. US statutory law is legislation
enacted by the US Congress and is codified in the United States
Code. The 50 state legislatures have similar authority to enact
state statutes. Administrative law is the authority delegated to
federal and state executive agencies. Case law, also referred to as
common law, covers areas where constitutional or statutory law is
lacking. Case law is a collection of judicial decisions, customs,
and general principles that began in England centuries ago, that
were adopted in America at the time of the Revolution, and that
continue to develop today.
Rank country Legal system Date of Information
======================================================================
Rank code: 2101
Country Comparison :: Legislative branch
This entry contains information on the structure (unicameral,
bicameral, tricameral), formal name, number of seats, and term of
office. Elections includes the nature of the election process or
accession to power, date of the last election, and date of the next
election. Election results includes the percent of vote and/or
number of seats held by each party in the last election.
Rank country Legislative branch Date of Information
======================================================================
Rank code: 2102
Country Comparison :: Life expectancy at birth
This entry contains the average number of years to be lived by a
group of people born in the same year, if mortality at each age
remains constant in the future. The entry includes total population
as well as the male and female components. Life expectancy at birth
is also a measure of overall quality of life in a country and
summarizes the mortality at all ages. It can also be thought of as
indicating the potential return on investment in human capital and
is necessary for the calculation of various actuarial measures.
Rank country (years) Date of Information
1 Monaco 89.78 2010 est.
2 Macau 84.38 2010 est.
3 San Marino 82.95 2010 est.
4 Andorra 82.36 2010 est.
5 Japan 82.17 2010 est.
6 Guernsey 82.08 2010 est.
7 Singapore 82.06 2010 est.
8 Hong Kong 81.96 2010 est.
9 Australia 81.72 2010 est.
10 Canada 81.29 2010 est.
11 Jersey 81.28 2010 est.
12 France 81.09 2010 est.
13 Spain 81.07 2010 est.
14 Sweden 80.97 2010 est.
15 Switzerland 80.97 2010 est.
16 Israel 80.86 2010 est.
17 Iceland 80.79 2010 est.
18 Anguilla 80.77 2010 est.
19 Bermuda 80.60 2010 est.
20 Cayman Islands 80.57 2010 est.
21 Isle of Man 80.53 2010 est.
22 New Zealand 80.48 2010 est.
23 Italy 80.33 2010 est.
24 Liechtenstein 80.19 2010 est.
25 Norway 80.08 2010 est.
26 Ireland 80.07 2010 est.
27 Jordan 79.92 2010 est.
28 United Kingdom 79.92 2010 est.
29 Greece 79.80 2010 est.
30 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 79.74 2010 est.
31 Austria 79.65 2010 est.
32 Malta 79.59 2010 est.
33 Faroe Islands 79.58 2010 est.
34 Netherlands 79.55 2010 est.
35 Luxembourg 79.48 2010 est.
36 Germany 79.41 2010 est.
37 Belgium 79.37 2010 est.
38 Virgin Islands 79.19 2010 est.
39 Finland 79.13 2010 est.
40 Wallis and Futuna 78.83 2010 est.
41 European Union 78.82 2010 est.
42 Korea, South 78.81 2010 est.
43 Puerto Rico 78.77 2010 est.
44 Bosnia and Herzegovina 78.66 2010 est.
45 Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha78.60 2010 est.
46 Gibraltar 78.53 2010 est.
47 Denmark 78.47 2010 est.
48 Portugal 78.38 2010 est.
49 United States 78.24 2010 est.
50 Taiwan 78.15 2010 est.
51 Kuwait 77.89 2010 est.
52 Cyprus 77.66 2010 est.
53 Cuba 77.64 2010 est.
54 Panama 77.61 2010 est.
55 Costa Rica 77.54 2010 est.
56 Chile 77.53 2010 est.
57 Libya 77.47 2010 est.
58 British Virgin Islands 77.45 2010 est.
59 Albania 77.22 2010 est.
60 Dominican Republic 77.15 2010 est.
61 Slovenia 77.12 2010 est.
62 Czech Republic 77.01 2010 est.
63 Georgia 76.93 2010 est.
64 French Polynesia 76.91 2010 est.
65 Northern Mariana Islands 76.90 2010 est.
66 Argentina 76.76 2010 est.
67 Saint Lucia 76.65 2010 est.
68 New Caledonia 76.56 2010 est.
69 Uruguay 76.55 2010 est.
70 United Arab Emirates 76.32 2010 est.
71 Mexico 76.26 2010 est.
72 Paraguay 75.99 2010 est.
73 Tunisia 75.99 2010 est.
74 Brunei 75.96 2010 est.
75 Poland 75.85 2010 est.
76 Dominica 75.77 2010 est.
77 Morocco 75.69 2010 est.
78 Turks and Caicos Islands 75.64 2010 est.
79 Slovakia 75.62 2010 est.
80 Croatia 75.58 2010 est.
81 Ecuador 75.52 2010 est.
82 Aruba 75.51 2010 est.
83 Qatar 75.51 2010 est.
84 Bahrain 75.40 2010 est.
85 Sri Lanka 75.30 2010 est.
86 Antigua and Barbuda 75.26 2010 est.
87 Lithuania 75.12 2010 est.
88 Thailand 75.02 2010 est.
89 Macedonia 74.92 2010 est.
90 Lebanon 74.79 2010 est.
91 West Bank 74.78 2010 est.
92 Hungary 74.57 2010 est.
93 China 74.51 2010 est.
94 Cook Islands 74.47 2010 est.
95 Syria 74.46 2010 est.
96 Saint Kitts and Nevis 74.37 2010 est.
97 Colombia 74.31 2010 est.
98 Algeria 74.26 2010 est.
99 Mauritius 74.25 2010 est.
100 Maldives 74.21 2010 est.
101 Barbados 74.14 2010 est.
102 Serbia 74.09 2010 est.
103 Suriname 73.98 2010 est.
104 American Samoa 73.97 2010 est.
105 Oman 73.97 2010 est.
106 Solomon Islands 73.94 2010 est.
107 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 73.90 2010 est.
108 Saudi Arabia 73.87 2010 est.
109 Venezuela 73.77 2010 est.
110 Romania 73.74 2010 est.
111 Gaza Strip 73.68 2010 est.
112 Malaysia 73.55 2010 est.
113 Jamaica 73.48 2010 est.
114 Bulgaria 73.35 2010 est.
115 Seychelles 73.28 2010 est.
116 El Salvador 73.18 2010 est.
117 Estonia 73.08 2010 est.
118 Armenia 72.96 2010 est.
119 Montserrat 72.91 2010 est.
120 Grenada 72.79 2010 est.
121 Latvia 72.42 2010 est.
122 Egypt 72.40 2010 est.
123 Brazil 72.26 2010 est.
124 Uzbekistan 72.24 2010 est.
125 Turkey 72.23 2010 est.
126 Samoa 72.13 2010 est.
127 Vietnam 71.94 2010 est.
128 Nicaragua 71.78 2010 est.
129 Palau 71.51 2010 est.
130 Marshall Islands 71.48 2010 est.
131 Philippines 71.38 2010 est.
132 Micronesia, Federated States of 71.23 2010 est.
133 Moldova 71.09 2010 est.
134 Trinidad and Tobago 71.09 2010 est.
135 Indonesia 71.05 2010 est.
136 Fiji 71.03 2010 est.
137 Tonga 71.03 2010 est.
138 Peru 71.03 2010 est.
139 Belarus 70.92 2010 est.
140 Bahamas, The 70.84 2010 est.
141 Greenland 70.67 2010 est.
142 Guatemala 70.59 2010 est.
143 Honduras 70.51 2010 est.
144 Cape Verde 70.41 2010 est.
145 Iraq 70.25 2010 est.
146 Iran 69.77 2010 est.
147 Kyrgyzstan 69.74 2010 est.
148 Bangladesh 69.44 2010 est.
149 Ukraine 68.46 2010 est.
150 Belize 68.23 2010 est.
151 Turkmenistan 68.20 2010 est.
152 Kazakhstan 68.19 2010 est.
153 Mongolia 67.98 2010 est.
154 Timor-Leste 67.61 2010 est.
155 Bolivia 67.23 2010 est.
156 Azerbaijan 67.01 2010 est.
157 Guyana 66.74 2010 est.
158 Bhutan 66.71 2010 est.
159 India 66.46 2010 est.
160 Russia 66.16 2010 est.
161 World 66.12 2009 est.
162 Papua New Guinea 65.99 2010 est.
163 Nepal 65.81 2010 est.
164 Tajikistan 65.68 2010 est.
165 Pakistan 65.63 2010 est.
166 Nauru 64.99 2010 est.
167 Burma 64.52 2010 est.
168 Tuvalu 64.39 2010 est.
169 Vanuatu 64.33 2010 est.
170 Korea, North 64.13 2010 est.
171 Kiribati 64.03 2010 est.
172 Comoros 63.83 2010 est.
173 Yemen 63.36 2010 est.
174 Mayotte 63.28 2010 est.
175 Madagascar 63.26 2010 est.
176 Sao Tome and Principe 62.73 2010 est.
177 Cambodia 62.28 2010 est.
178 Togo 62.25 2010 est.
179 Haiti 62.17 2011 est.
180 Eritrea 62.15 2010 est.
181 Laos 62.00 2010 est.
182 Equatorial Guinea 61.98 2010 est.
183 Botswana 60.93 2010 est.
184 Mauritania 60.75 2010 est.
185 Western Sahara 60.74 2010 est.
186 Djibouti 60.73 2010 est.
187 Ghana 60.55 2010 est.
188 Benin 59.42 2010 est.
189 Senegal 59.38 2010 est.
190 Kenya 58.82 2010 est.
191 Burundi 58.29 2010 est.
192 Guinea 57.60 2010 est.
193 Rwanda 57.46 2010 est.
194 Liberia 56.58 2010 est.
195 Cote d'Ivoire 56.19 2010 est.
196 Ethiopia 55.80 2010 est.
197 Sierra Leone 55.69 2010 est.
198 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 54.73 2010 est.
199 Congo, Republic of the 54.54 2010 est.
200 Sudan 54.21 2010 est.
201 Gambia, The 54.07 2010 est.
202 Cameroon 54.04 2010 est.
203 Burkina Faso 53.32 2010 est.
204 Niger 52.99 2010 est.
205 Uganda 52.98 2010 est.
206 Gabon 52.75 2010 est.
207 Tanzania 52.49 2010 est.
208 Mali 52.17 2010 est.
209 Zambia 52.03 2010 est.
210 Namibia 51.95 2010 est.
211 Malawi 50.92 2010 est.
212 Lesotho 50.67 2010 est.
213 Somalia 50.00 2010 est.
214 Central African Republic 49.68 2010 est.
215 South Africa 49.20 2010 est.
216 Guinea-Bissau 48.30 2010 est.
217 Chad 47.99 2010 est.
218 Swaziland 47.97 2010 est.
219 Zimbabwe 47.55 2010 est.
220 Nigeria 47.24 2010 est.
221 Afghanistan 44.65 2010 est.
222 Mozambique 41.37 2010 est.
223 Angola 38.48 2010 est.
======================================================================
Rank code: 2103
Country Comparison :: Literacy
This entry includes a definition of literacy and Census Bureau
percentages for the total population, males, and females. There are
no universal definitions and standards of literacy. Unless otherwise
specified, all rates are based on the most common definition - the
ability to read and write at a specified age. Detailing the
standards that individual countries use to assess the ability to
read and write is beyond the scope of the Factbook. Information on
literacy, while not a perfect measure of educational results, is
probably the most easily available and valid for international
comparisons. Low levels of literacy, and education in general, can
impede the economic development of a country in the current rapidly
changing, technology-driven world.
Rank country (%) Date of Information