Common Law Origins of Criminal Law

There are four major legal traditions in the modern world: the common law, the civil law, the socialist law, and the religious law legal traditions. Although many other different legal traditions have existed throughout history, these four traditions are representative of the major legal traditions that have developed over the course of history.

It must be realized that each of these four legal traditions consists of certain fundamental principles unique to that tradition, but they are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some aspects of each tradition might be found in the other ...