Which of the following examples of judicial systems would BEST be described as a civil law system?

A civil law system is fundamentally based on a comprehensive and codified set of statutes and principles enacted by a legislative body. The primary role of the courts in this system is to interpret and apply these written laws to the specific facts of a case. Unlike common law systems, the doctrine of stare decisis (binding precedent) does not apply. While judges may consider previous court decisions for guidance, they are not legally bound by them. The codified law is the supreme and binding source of legal authority.

A. This is incorrect because in a civil law system, courts are definitively bound by codified statutes; they are not merely a consideration.
B. Being bound by previous court decisions is a defining characteristic of common law systems, not civil law systems.
C. This option provides a clear and accurate description of a common law system, where judicial precedent is the primary source of law.

1. Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). (2023). Fraud Examiners Manual, International Edition. Section IV: Law, Chapter 1: Introduction to Law, Subsection: "Sources of Law." The manual specifies that in civil law jurisdictions, "the primary source of law is the jurisdiction’s constitution and the statutes or codes enacted by the legislature... judicial precedent is not a binding source of law."

2. Tetley, W. (2000). Mixed jurisdictions: common law vs civil law (codified and uncodified). Uniform Law Review - Revue de droit uniforme, 5(3), 591–619. (Available via McGill University Law). Section II(A) states, "The main source or feature of the civil law is that the law is codified... A civil jurisdiction’s law is therefore primarily found in its code." Section II(B) contrasts this with common law, where the main feature is "the doctrine of binding precedent or stare decisis."

3. The Robbins Collection, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. (n.d.). Civil Law & Common Law: Two Different Paths to the Same Goal. This publication notes, "In civil-law jurisdictions, the legislature and the legal scholars who draft the codes are the primary lawmakers... By contrast, in common-law jurisdictions, the judiciary is the primary lawmaker." This highlights the binding nature of codes in civil law.