Civil Law Trad.:intro.to Legal Sys. Book

It is strange that, for a significant proportion of law students and legal professionals, delving into a legal tradition other than that in which they are formally trained is not a more common occurrence. It is particularly strange for common law lawyers, considering that (1) twice as many people live under the civil law tradition, and (2) that when the common law began the civil law tradition was as old as the common law is today. These are the sort of facts that John Merryman throws at you in The Civil Law Tradition.

Admittedly, this is a book for nerds. Not necessarily law nerds, but general nerds. It's a book for people who find themselves in Wikipedia spirals, people who read the plaques of statues when walking in parks, and people who keep vocabulary lists on their phones whenever they do crosswords. It's not as approachable a book as a classic Malcolm Gladwell, but you needn't a legal background to enjoy it. Whilst Merryman is unable to do part with legalese in explaining certain parts of the civil law tradition, he does well in opening up these concepts and explaining them simply.

The book begins with a detailed articulation of the principal components of civil law - Roman civil law, canon law and commercial law. Merryman posits that these three components are the "principal historical sources of the concepts, institutions, and procedures of most of the private law and procedural law, and much of the criminal law of modern civil law systems". It will be striking to some readers to learn the sheer weight of societal influence of the Roman empire, the Catholic Church and travelling Mediterranean merchants over the course of history.

Merryman goes on to write about the "Revolution", highlighting a crucial difference between the common law and civil law traditions. Put simply, the former never suffered from a complete breakdown of trust in judicial institutions. For one reason or another, common law subjects have retained the near-prophetic status of judicial officers and continue to see the courts as altars of rationality and sound decision-making. Merryman provides an insightful appraisal of this divide.

The majority of the book is dedicated to explaining each and every component and mechanism that constitute the civil law tradition. These range from the often misunderstood civil law codes; the roles of legal scholars, judges, and lawyers and their astounding differences to the common law system; the nebulous field of legal science; the organisation of court systems and the legal process more generally. Some of these parts in Merryman's book at times read as if it were a university textbook, which is unsurprising given that Merryman is an academic. Some readers will find these overly dry and will struggle to fight the urge to skip sections altogether. Frankly, whilst the book as a whole is cohesive, most chapters are self-contained and skipping some will not hinder the reader's experience.

As a final point, Merryman's bias should be acknowledged. He originates from a common law jurisdiction and it is noticeably evident in his book that he harbours a certain degree of preference over common law jurisprudence and its modus operandi. This, however, does not detract from the quality of the book at all. If anything, Merryman adds some contentious discussion points over which the reader can mull throughout the course of the book.

The Civil Law Tradition will satisfy anyone who has ever wondered how those living on the other half of the world "do law". It is by understanding the ways and traditions of our neighbours that we can best begin to understand ourselves. Merryman introduces questions you possibly had never asked. Should unelected officials really make decisions that affect the entire population? Should the law be a field of technical expertise akin to engineering and science? Should laws be mechanically read and applied or "interpreted"? How far should such interpretation go? This book is an excellent introduction into the subject, and Merryman expertly packs it with insightful commentary and sound reasoning.