Concept and Definition of Civil Law
Civil law is defined as a branch of specific Law, a set of legal rules that regulates the relations between individuals in society or individuals and State, and that is concerned with resolving any disputes arising between them. The Civil Law is the basis on which the other branches of specific law rely. Civil Law is the origin of specific laws and is superior to other branches of specific law, as it regulates all relations between individuals in the event that such relations are not regulated by a certain law.
According to jurists, the Civil Law is divided into two parts. The first is concerned with regulating an individual’s legal personality and regulating matters of eligibility (eligibility of performance and eligibility of obligatory).
The second is the Transactions Law, which regulates a person’s relationship with money whether the person obtains the money directly, which is called a right in rem, as the law gives the person authority over something, or indirectly, which is called a right in personam, which the person obtains through the arrangement of one or more financial obligations. These matters are then separated and regulated by specific laws.
Second – History of Civil Law
The Civil Law dates back to the Roman era, and it was applied in Rome and its citizens. However, the law applied outside Rome was called the Peoples Law. Civil Law was influenced by the Corpus Law, as it was the Basic Law during 529 and 534 AD. Orders were then issued to compile the various legal articles into codes, thus Roman law became the basis of laws. Thereafter, many specific laws inspired by Civil Law appeared, including the Commercial Law, Agricultural Law, and others. The Civil Law’s rules were used to establish such specific laws.
In the Kingdom of Bahrain, the period preceding the promulgation of the Civil Law promulgated by Decree-Law No. 19 of 2001 was not without a legislative vacuum. Some of Civil Law provisions were enshrined in the Contract Law of 1969 and the Civil Violations Law of 1970 before they were repealed by the promulgation of the Civil Law in 2001.
Third – Sources of Civil Law
The existence of any law must be based on sources and origins. The sources of law are the foundations that have created these legal rules, as these sources are historical source and material source, and they may also be official or unofficial source. The discussion here will be limited to historical, official and unofficial sources.
The historical source of Civil Law: Romanian law is the historical and original source of Civil Law, from which the provisions of the current Civil Law were taken. Romanian law is the basis of French civil law, on which Egyptian law based. Bahraini law is based on Egyptian Civil Law together with some variations, in addition to the provisions of Islamic Shariah.
Unofficial source: It is called the interpretative source. These sources are the jurisprudence and judiciary. The function of this source is to interpret legal rules not to develop legal texts. This source is specifically used by the judge in cases where there are legal texts that require interpretation and clarification. Since it is an interpretative source, it is not binding.
Official source: This source is also called formal source and is the source with the binding force so that legal rules are enforceable as soon as they enter into force. It is named formal because it is the form through which binding will is manifested. Custom, Islamic Shariah and rules of justice are official sources of law.
Fourth – Characteristics of Civil Law
It is considered one of the key laws as it regulates a huge number of relations and legal issues, and because of this it has many characteristics:
Bahraini Civil Law derives most of its rules from Islamic Fiqh and general principles of law.
Fifth – Methods Used to Enforce the Civil law
The French method: the so-called Napoleonic Code, and it was found after the French Revolution, which changed the course of the legislation history. The French method was applied in many countries other than France because of the ease and clarity of this method, in addition to being influenced by the ideas that resulted from the French Revolution, and this method was affected by the provisions of Roman law.
The German method: This method is distinguished from others in terms of its ease of formulation and the existence of a general section containing terms, rules and concepts that can be applied within other legal sections, which distinguishes German law from French law.
Some countries whose system is based on Roman-Germanic laws follow one or both of the two methods mentioned above. Egyptian Civil Law did not adhere to a specific method, but followed both methods, as well as Bahraini Civil Law, which was greatly affected by Egyptian law.