Legal scholars use the term ‘civil law systems’ to describe the legal systems of all those nations predominantly within the historical tradition derived from Roman law as transmitted to Continental Europe through the Corpus Iuris Civilis of Emperor Justinian.[834]

In the foregoing discussion we have traced the long and intricate process of amalgamation of Roman, Germanic and other bodies of law that form the substance of modern civil law systems.

The material also noted the effect thereon of historical developments, cultural factors and the exigencies of legal practice. This process culminated in the codification of civil law in Europe. The codes constitute a new point of departure in the development of the civil law, but its history obviously does not end with their enactment. In the years following the publication of the codes, the dynamics of legal change have worked primarily through special legislation and judicial interpretation, as well as through code revision, constitutional law and the harmonization of law at a European or regional level. Legislatures in civil law countries responded to changes in society and the economy by excising large areas of the law from the domain of the civil codes. They also created entirely new areas of law that fall outside the scope of the codes, such as employment law, insurance law, competition law, and landlord and tenant law. Furthermore, legislatures endeavoured to update the civil codes by modifying their texts. Both the French and German codes have been amended several times since their introduction. In general, code revision has been more extensive in the area of family law than in any other areas. Many family law reforms were precip­itated by constitutional provisions introduced after the Second World War and by international conventions promoting new ideas of equality and liberty that were at variance with the patriarchal family law of the civil codes. In other areas of the law, legislatures have often encountered difficulty in forging the necessary changes within the structure of the civil codes. To deal with this problem, legislatures have resorted to the introduction of special statutes outside the codes—statutes that could more easily be amended as socio-economic conditions change.

While legislatures created and developed bodies of law outside the sphere of the civil codes, the courts have introduced new rules through the interpretation of the codes' provisions.

This judicial adaptation of the codes to new social and economic conditions has produced a new body of law, which is based on the expansion through interpretation of the existing legislative texts. In some civil law countries, such as France, this process has been facilitated by the structural characteristics of the civil code—its gaps, ambiguities and incompleteness. The drafters of the French Civil Code never imagined or anticipated the litigation-producing aspects of mod­ern life such as industrial and traffic accidents, telecommunications, the photo­graphic reproduction of images and mass circulation of publications. Thus, it is no surprise that in essence the modern French law of torts is almost entirely judge- made. Regarding the later codes, such as the German Code, the judicial adaptation of the civil law to changing social and economic conditions was facilitated by the inclusion in the codes of ‘general clauses'—provisions that deliberately leave a large measure of discretion to judges. Although traditional civil law theory denies that judges make law or that judicial decisions can be a source of law, contemporary civil law systems are more openly recognizing the unavoidable dependence of legislation on the judges and administrators who interpret and apply it.

8.2.1      

More on the topic Legal scholars use the term ‘civil law systems’ to describe the legal systems of all those nations predominantly within the historical tradition derived from Roman law as transmitted to Continental Europe through the Corpus Iuris Civilis of Emperor Justinian.[834]:

1. The law of obligations is one of the most significant contributions of Roman law to legal culture, illuminating the civil law tradition more than any other branch of Roman law.
2. The most important legal undertaking of Antiquity was the compilation of what was later called Corpus luris Civilis promulgated by Emperor Justinian.
3. The development of Roman law from the eleventh century into the modern era has had a profound and lasting impact on legal systems throughout the West.
4. It is difficult to provide a comprehensive and finite list of the sources of Roman law, since the Roman jurists never defined the term 'source of law' and different sources were emphasized at certain periods in the history of the Roman legal system to reflect their prominence as instruments of legal reform.
5. IV. EUROPEAN LEGAL SYSTEMS AS MIXED SYSTEMS
6. The Corpus Iuris Civilis
7. Mousourakis G.. Roman Law and the Origins of the Civil Law Tradition. Springer,2015. — 339 p., 2015
8. Defining Characteristics of Civil Law Systems
9. II. Discussion of Legal Position of Daughter in Ancient Eastern Legal Systems Egypt
10. Roman Law Codes and the Roman Legal Tradition
11. The thousands of students from all over Europe who had studied at Bologna and other Italian universities conveyed to their own countries the new legal learning based on the revived Roman law.
12. V. LESSONS FROM MIXED LEGAL SYSTEMS
13. THE IMPACT OF FIDEIUSSIO ON MODERN LEGAL SYSTEMS
14. Chapter Eight A Sceptic’s Observations about Interpretation and Legal Systems
15. Some modern legal systems recognize a further, practically very dangerous, threat to the life of obligations: the lapse of time.
16. APPLIED CIVIL LAW: LEGAL PROCEDURE
17. This introductory chapter addresses broad topics and general ideas that overarch the entire Roman legal tradition.
18. In principle, a sui iuris Roman citizen enjoyed all the rights of citizenship and could own property as well as perform legal acts.
19. A Western Legal Tradition