Canada’s legal system has been greatly influenced the earlier and some ancient systems of law. For example the use of jurors by the Greeks and the use of lawyers by the Romans have both played a large role in the Canadian judicial system. Other system which have greatly impacted the judicial system include The French Civil Code (created by Napoleon Bonaparte) which has been the bases for the Québec Civil Code, the Ten Commandments which have played a larger role in the moral values of our law, the retribution portion of the Code of Hammurabi and the Great Laws of Manu which influenced mostly the creation of the legal system.
Although these legal systems played a large role in shaping the face of the Canadian legal system, the one system which has had the greatest impact is British law. The Rule of Law which derives from the Magna Carta (signed in 1215 England by King John) is the fundamental principle of Canadian law. The adversarial system was born from the trial by combat method, in which the opposing parties would physically duel to determine the innocent. Of course this method has developed over the years and now involves opposing parties and impartial judge “dueling” in a non physical manner within a court. The use of common law (in which judges use previous cases to help determine the verdict of another case) has also derived from British Tradition. Common law was created during the reign of Henry II. At this time there were no written rules to guide judges who traveled from towns and villages to determine the verdict of a dispute or crime, (these types of courts were known as “assizes” while the judges themselves were known as “circuit judges”) the judges had to rely on their judgement and common sense. Eventually the practice of treating similar cases with the same verdict came into effect. This eventually led to the principle known as stare decisis (a Latin term meaning “to stand by the decision”). This principle led to the process known as rule of precedent
