Law Rankings 2025

The Catholic Church has the oldest continuously functioning legal system in the western world, predating the evolution of recent European civil law and common law systems. The Eastern Catholic Churches, which developed completely different disciplines and practices, are ruled by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The canon law of the Catholic Church influenced the common law during the medieval interval through its preservation of Roman law doctrine such as the Law news presumption of innocence. Examples include the Jewish Halakha and Islamic Sharia—both of which translate as the “path to observe”. Often the implication of religion for law is unalterability, because the word of God can’t be amended or legislated against by judges or governments. Nonetheless, most non secular jurisdictions rely on additional human elaboration to supply for thorough and detailed authorized systems.