Common Law versus Civil Law

[Antonio the Sixth]

Civil law by far. Common law gives far too much leeway to judges and is likely to result in arbitrary and unequal applications as well as instability based on their whims. The law must be one and the same everywhere, clearly stated from its inception, and only change through the action of the legislative body.

I think common law is better for a healthy democracy.

It seems to me that the only countries that use common law (that is, basically former British colonies) are all fairly lacking in democratic standards. There is a wide variation among Civil Law countries, but they include all of Northern Europe, which strikes me as a far better model to aspire to.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I didn't mean to say that Anglo-Saxon countries were particularly undemocratic, but they're also clearly not shining example, and that's what confused me about Nathan's post (though I understand his point now). But honestly, when Anglo-Saxon countries do something a certain way and the entire rest of the world does the opposite, I'll give the rest of the world the benefit of doubt.

While the law can't cover every single situation, it can provide clear criteria to apply to resolve unambiguous cases, rather than relying on such shaky and always arbitrary notions such as "precedent". For example, most European penal codes set specific penalties for a given crimes, but also specify how much can be detracted or added to them in cases where extenuating/aggravating circumstances are found. Civil law systems also have jury trials for certain circumstances (the most serious crimes usually), but in general I think it's better to avoid it when the legal issues to arbitrate are particularly technical. Also, I suspect that juries on average impose harsher sentences than judges, so from a left-wing standpoint they might not be such a great thing.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I didn't mean to say that Anglo-Saxon countries were particularly undemocratic, but they're also clearly not shining example

Countries like Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the UK are only behind Scandinavia.

All except NZ and Australia use FPP, which is inherently undemocratic. Australia's immigration policy violates basic human rights to an extent far beyond what even the most right-wing European countries would find acceptable. Several of them also have serious issues about control of the media by powerful private interests.

Again, nothing too out of the norm, but I wouldn't call any of them role models except maybe NZ.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I don't want to derail my own thread, but which countries do you consider the most democratic in the world, and where do the Anglosphere countries rank on that list?

The Scandinavians, Germany and the rest of the "Germanosphere", Benelux, and I guess NZ. Most of the Anglosphere countries come after that, along with places like France, Spain and Italy. The US is a notch behind.

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That wasn't my point, read my posts again.