Civil Law (jus civile) among the Romans was a term nearly corresponding to what in modern times is implied by the phrase positive law, that is, the rules of right established by any government. They contradistinguished it from natural law (jus naturale), by which they meant a certain natural order followed by all living beings; also from the general laws of mankind established by the agreement of all nations and governments (jus gentium). With the growth and multiplication of the edicts issued by the praetors (in whose hands was the supreme administration of justice) for the modification and extension of the positive enactments a further distinction became necessary, the whole body of this praetorian law being known by the name of jus honorarium as opposed to the strict formal law (jus civile). The latter, however, included both the private law (jus privatum), which relates to the various legal relations of the different members of the state - the citizens - and the public law (jus publicum), that is, the rules respecting the limits, rights, obligations, etc, of the public authorities.
The final digest of Roman law was made in the 6th century AD under the Emperor Justinian, but at first was only admitted as formally binding in a small part of Italy. After the llth century, in Upper Italy, particularly in the school of Bologna, the body of the Roman law, put together by Justinian, was formed by degrees into a system applicable to the wants of all nations; and on this model the ecclesiastical and Papal decrees were arranged, and to a considerable degree the native laws of the new Teutonic states. From all these the Roman law was distinguished under the name of civil law. In this sense, therefore, civil law means ancient Roman law; and it is contradistinguished from canon law and feudal law, though the feudalcodes of the Lombards have been received into the corpus juris civilis, or body of civil law. As the Roman code exerted the greatest influence on the private law of modern Europe, the expression civil law is also used to embrace all the rules relating to the private rights of citizens. Under the term civil law, therefore, in both Europe and America, is to be understood not only the Roman law, but also the modern private law of the various countries; for example, in Germany, Das gemeine Deutsche Privatrecht, in France the Code civil des Francais or Code Napoleon. In this sense it is chiefly opposed to criminal law, particularly in reference to the administration of justice, which is to be divided into civil justice and criminal justice. Research Civil Law
The ISO (International Standards Organisation) assigns a two character code to each country name. These codes are used by Internet 'whois' databases (these two character abbreviations are the whois country codes) and also other applications.
Divorce is a separation, by law, of husband and wife, and is either a divorce a vinculo matrimonii, that is, a complete dissolution of the marriage bonds, or a divorce a mensa et thoro (from bed and board), whereby the parties are legally separated, but not unmarried.
The causes admitted by different codes of laws as grounds for the modification or entire dissolution of the marriage contract, as well as the description of tribunal which has jurisdiction of the proceedings, and the form of the proceedings, are various.
Divorce was permitted by the law of Moses, but forbidden in the New Testament, except for unchastity. The early laws of Rome permitted the husband to divorce his wife for adultery and many other alleged offences. The facility of divorce continued, without restriction, under the Roman emperors, but as the modern nations of Europe emerged from the ruins of the Roman Empire, they adopted the doctrine of the New Testament. Marriage, under the Roman Church, instead of a civil contract, came to be considered a sacrament of the church, which it was unlawful to dissolve. The ecclesiastical courts could indeed annul a marriage, but only for a cause that existed at the time the marriage was contracted, such as prior contracts, impotency, etc. For any cause arising after marriage they could only pronounce a divorce a mensa et thoro, which did not leave either party free to marry again, except by papal dispensation.
A divorce a vinculo matrimonii, for any cause arising subsequent to marriage, could formerly be obtained in England only by an act of parliament, and the ecclesiastical courts must have previously pronounced a divorce a mensa et thoro. The act passed in 1857, however, established a new court for trying divorce causes, called the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, subsequently absorbed into the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.
In Victorian England, the husband could obtain a divorce for simple adultery; but if the wife is the petitioner, she had to show that her husband had been guilty of certain kinds of adultery, or of adultery coupled with desertion or gross cruelty. Either party could marry again after divorce. A divorce could not be obtained if it appeared that the petitioner had been guilty of the same offence, or that there had been collusion between the parties to obtain a divorce, or if they had condoned the offence by living together as man and wife after discovery. The husband could claim damages from the adulterer, and the court could also order the adulterer to pay the costs of the proceedings, in whole or in part. The act also abolished divorces a mensa et thoro, substituting, however, judicial separations. Since the late 20th century, divorce in BritainEngland has become a simple affair with either party simply having to claim that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
A decree for a divorce is always in the first instance a decree nisi. In Scotland, from the time of the Reformation, divorce might be obtained by either party on the ground of adultery, marriage being held to be only a civil contract, and as such under the jurisdiction of the civil courts. Condonation or collusion was sufficient to prevent a divorce from being obtained on the ground of adultery, but not recrimination, that is, a counter charge of adultery. Wilful desertion was also held a valid reason for divorce.
In France divorce was legalized in 1884, with conditions, after having been prohibited for many years. Research Divorce
The New Age Posse (NAP) were a phreaking gang operating in Britain during the mid-1990's. The three main members of the gang were 'Rage', 'Raven' and 'Incinerator'. In 1994 the NAP accessed the 'Apple Computers Info Line' (the AppleComputer company's call handling system) and reprogrammed many of the exchange numbers allowing people in the know to dial a British free-call telephone number after six in the evening and by entering one of several three-digit codes, have their call connected to various computer virus, hacking, pirate software bulletin boards or chat-lines around the world, with the cost of the call being billed to the Apple Info Line, and not the person making the call. Research New Age Posse
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) and the PACE Codes of Practice provide the core framework of police powers and safeguards around stop and search, arrest, detention, investigation, identification and interviewing detainees. PACE sets out to strike the right balance between the powers of the police and the rights and freedoms of the public. Maintaining that balance is a key element of PACE. However, the British police regularly flout the regulations set out in PACE, which is in itself a lengthy book which would take several hours to read. Suspects arrested in England and Wales have the right to read the PACE guidelines, but this is wholly unreasonable, given the length of the guidelines and the legal language used. This enables the police to flout the guidelines, unless the suspect demands their right to legal representation, and refuses to speak without a solicitor present.
The PACE guidelines are dividied into eight sections, known as codes:
Code A - Deals with the exercise by police officers of statutory powers to search a person or a vehicle without first making an arrest. It also deals with the need for a police officer to make a record of a stop or encounter.
Code B - Deals with police powers to search premises and to seize and retain property found on premises and persons.
Code C - sets out the requirements for the detention, treatment and questioning of suspects not related to terrorism in police custody by police officers. This is the section of the PACE guidelines
that applies to most arrests, and to the treatment of a suspect while in a police station. This section is itself over eighty pages long!
Code D - Concerns the main methods used by the police to identify people in connection with the investigation of offences and the keeping of accurate and reliable criminal records.
Code E - Deals with the audio recording of interviews with suspects in the police station.
Code F - Deals with the visual recording with sound of interviews with suspects. There is no statutory requirement on police officers to visually record interviews. However, the contents of this code should be considered if an interviewing officer decides to make a visual recording with sound of an interview with a suspect.
Code G - Deals with powers of arrest under section 24 the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 as amended by section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
Athelstan was an English king. He was born in 895 and died in 940. He succeeded his father, Edward the Elder, in 925 and extended his kingdom by defeats over the Welsh of Devon, Cornwall and Wales and defeating the Northumbrian Danes and their northern and Irish allies at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.
Athelstan's law codes strengthened royal control over his large kingdom; currency was regulated to control silver's weight and to penalise fraudsters. Buying and selling was mostly confined to the burhs, encouraging town life; areas of settlement in the midlands and Danish towns were consolidated into shires. Overseas, Athelstan built alliances by marrying four of his half-sisters to various rulers in western Europe. He also had extensive cultural and religious contacts; as an enthusiastic and discriminating collector of works of art and religious relics, he gave away much of his collection to his followers and to churches and bishops in order to retain their support. Athelstan died at the height of his power and was buried at Malmesbury; a churchcharter of 934 described him as 'King of the English, elevated by the right hand of the Almighty ... to the Throne of the whole Kingdom of Britain'. Research Athelstan
Cesare Bonesana Beccaria (Marchesse diBeccaria) was an Italian economist and writer on penal laws. He was born in 1735 or 1738 and died in 1793. He is principally known from his treatise, On Crimes and Punishments, which was speedily translated into various languages, and to which many of the reforms in the penal codes of the principal European nations are traceable. He became professor of political economy at Milan. Research Cesare Beccaria
The Dorians were one of the four great branches of the Greek nation who migrated from Thessaly southwards, settling for a time in the mountainous district of Doris in Northern Greece and finally in Peloponnesus. Their migration to the latter was said to have taken place in 1104 BC; and as among their leaders were certain descendants of Hercules (or Heracles), it was known as the return of the Heraclidae. The Dorians ruled in Sparta with great renown as a strong and warlike people, though less cultivated than the other Greeks in arts and letters. Their laws were severe and rigid, as typified in the codes of the great Doric legislators Minos and Lycurgus. The Doric dialect was characterized by its broadness and hardness, yet on account of its venerable and antique style was often used in solemn odes and choruses. Research Dorians
David Dudley Field was a prominent American law reformer. He was born in 1805 and died in 1894. From 1847 to 1850 he was a commissioner to prepare Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure, which was in several instances adopted; and from 1857 to 1865 he was chairman of a New Yorkcommission to prepare political, penal and civil codes. In 1873 he published Outlines of an International Code, which attracted wide attention. Research Dvid Field
Edward Livingston was an American jurist. He was born in 1764 and died in 1836. A brother of Robert R Livingston, he graduated at Princeton, and reached early in life a commanding position at the New York bar. From 1795 to 1801, he was a Democratic Congressman. While district attorney in the following years he became entangled in business, was deeply indebted to the Government, and removed to Louisiana to retrieve his fortunes. He was Congressman from Louisian in 1823 to 1839, US Senator 1829 to 1831, Secretary of State from 1831 to 1833, and Minister to France from 1833 until 1835. His rank as a lawyer was very high, and his influence, by his codes and legal writings, was profound upon law in America and in Europe. Research Edward Livingston
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Civil Law
