20061 WAR VS LEGAL ORIGIN 46g A.The Classic Differences First,what have legal scholars seen to be the classic,core differ- ences between legal origins? The civil law codifies The Emperor Justinian had Roman law compiled and, when the compilation was completed in the year 533 barred future decisionmakers from referring to the work of judges and from citing authorities other than his Code.All law was reflected in his Corpus Juris Civilis,all else extraneous.s Napoleon,seeking to control the judges in post-revolutionary France as the revolutionaries had sought in I7 79r by requiring ju s,if the legislative text was to ask the legislature its mear promulgated Theow the ther hand.r judges decide cases and precedents evolve,without the judges'refer- ring to a central code.A code centralizes authority;common law judges disperse it. Civil law and common law judges read the text of the governing code differently,it is sa d Ci ivil law judge read its plair mea the text is incomplete,it is said,a class ivil law judge doe not fill in gaps where a common law judge would.10 Hence,the civil law judge deters insider corporate schemes ineptly,while the wily common law judge adapts and stops insider thievery.Common law judges follow precedent thereby building a cohesive system of law from the ground up. Civil law judge in contrast,do not follo 0 n deci do not write down their reasoning,and do not tightly tie thei sions to the facts of the case. The civil law tends toward deductive thinking-"to making plans, to regulating things in advance. to drawing up rules and systema- tizing them."In contrast,"[t]he Englishman improvises,never mak- 2 Financial Development?Capital Controls,Instituions,and o Simeon Diankov.Rafael La Porta Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes&Andrei Shleifer,The Regulation f Lab ng th histor try s JOHN HENRY MERRYMAN,THE CIVIL LAW TRADITION 6-7(ad ed.1985) See JOHN P DAWSON.THE ORACLES OF THE LAW 263 (168)M ARY esistan tionary wrath Beck et al.supra note 5,at 655,657-58,660 Napoleon's Code was also The Role of United States Federal Courts in Interpreting the Constitution and Laws,in A MATTER OF INTERPRE- Weir trans.,3d ed.1998)(177). WAR VS. LEGAL ORIGIN A. The Classic Differences First, what have legal scholars seen to be the classic, core differ￾ences between legal origins? The civil law codifies. The Emperor Justinian had Roman law compiled and, when the compilation was completed in the year 533, barred future decisionmakers from referring to the work of judges and from citing authorities other than his Code. All law was reflected in his Corpus Juris Civilis, all else extraneous. 8 Napoleon, seeking to control the judges in post-revolutionary France as the revolutionaries had sought in 1791 - by requiring judges, if the legislative text was ambiguous or silent, to ask the legislature its meaning - promulgated his famous Code. 9 The common law, on the other hand, grows as judges decide cases and precedents evolve, without the judges' refer￾ring to a central code. A code centralizes authority; common law judges disperse it. Civil law and common law judges read the text of the governing code differently, it is said. Civil law judges read its plain meaning; if the text is incomplete, it is said, a classic civil law judge does not fill in gaps where a common law judge would.10 Hence, the civil law judge deters insider corporate schemes ineptly, while the wily common law judge adapts and stops insider thievery. Common law judges follow precedent, thereby building a cohesive system of law from the ground up. Civil law judges, in contrast, do not follow prior opinions, often do not write down their reasoning, and do not tightly tie their deci￾sions to the facts of the case. The civil law tends toward deductive thinking - "to making plans, to regulating things in advance, . . . to drawing up rules and systema￾tizing them."'1 In contrast, "[t]he Englishman improvises, never mak￾Financial Development? Capital Controls, Institutions, and Interactions 2 (Nat'l Bureau of Econ. Research, Working Paper No. 11370, 2005) (emphasis added), available at http:// www.nber.org/papers/wii 3 7 o.pdf; see also Juan C. Botero, Simeon Djankov, Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, The Regulation of Labor, Iig Q.J. ECON. 1339, 1340 (2004) (asserting that more than a country's current politics, "the historical origin of a coun￾try's laws shapes its regulation of labor and other markets"). 8 JOHN HENRY MERRYMAN, THE CIVIL LAW TRADITION 6-7 (2d ed. I985). 9 See JOHN P DAWSON, THE ORACLES OF THE LAW 263 (1968); MARY ANN GLENDON ET AL., COMPARATIVE LEGAL TRADITIONS 67 n.i, 375-76, 378-79, 387 (2d ed. 1994) ("[T]he French royal courts['] ... resistance ... to all change ... made them prime targets for revolu￾tionary wrath ... .'; Beck et al., supra note 5, at 655, 657-58, 66o. Napoleon's Code was also designed for nation-building, uniting disparate legal systems throughout France. 10 But cf Antonin Scalia, Common-Law Courts in a Civil Law System: The Role of United States Federal Courts in Interpreting the Constitution and Laws, in A MATTER OF INTERPRE￾TATION 3, 16-17, 23-25, 29-30 (Amy Gutmann ed., 1997) (virtues of textualism). 11 KONRAD ZWEIGERT & HEIN KOTZ, INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE LAW 70 (Tony Weir trans., 3 d ed. 1998) (1977). 2oo6]