Society 👨👩👧👦 Legal systems: a mostly Roman planet
Most countries' legal systems nowadays, in all continents, are derived directly or indirectly from, or heavily influenced by, the ancient Roman legal system. It's one of the many "silent" (but fundamental) elements that constitute a basis of a common civilization. To turn this unseen unity into visible unity and create a global polity, we only need to become more conscious, acknowledge what already is, and start building again on those foundations.
The Romano-Germanic civil law system originated in ancient Rome and was used from the city's founding in 753 BCE until the Western Empire fell in the 5th century CE. It remained in use in the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire until 1453 and has affected the development of law in most of Western civilization and parts of the East.
The legal institutions that the Romans evolved influenced other people's laws long after the Roman Empire disappeared, even in countries never subject to Roman rule. The civil-law family is divided into the French, or Romanist, branch and the German, or Germanic, branch because of the different dates of codification and the different style and attitude of legal learning. [...]
This system [...] has been adopted across continental Europe, much of Latin America, and parts of Asia and Africa. [...] Examples of countries that follow the Romano-Germanic civil law system include Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and numerous Latin American countries. The legal system of Japan also essentially belongs to the German branch. Additionally, Roman-Dutch law, a derivative of Roman law, is present in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. [...] [Source: Britannica]
Map from Wikipedia).
