Civil law refers to all legal norms regulating property relations and personal relations between equal subjects. ? The modern word "civil law" comes from the "civil law" of ancient Rome. In the early days of ancient Rome, the law regulating the relationship between Roman citizens, that is, Roman citizens, was called civil law.
Later, when translating the word "civil law", countries adopted words corresponding to their own languages. When studying the western civil law theory and formulating the civil code, Japan expressed the word "civil law" used by western countries as "civil law" in Chinese characters. This usage was later introduced to China, and it has been used ever since. Civil law is one of the most important legal departments in China.
First of all, civil law can be divided into formal civil law and substantive civil law. The so-called formal civil law refers to the written civil code (that is, the civil code); The so-called substantive civil law refers to all laws, regulations, case law and customary law with the nature of civil law.
For example, in China, before the enactment of the Civil Code, the General Principles of Civil Law were the basic civil legislative documents. In addition, contract law, guarantee law, copyright law, patent law, trademark law and inheritance law are all separate civil laws and regulations.