The law of Germany (german: das Recht Deutschlands), that being the modern German legal system (german: Deutsches Rechtssystem), is a system of
civil law
Civil law may refer to:
* Civil law (common law), the part of law that concerns private citizens and legal persons
* Civil law (legal system), or continental law, a legal system originating in continental Europe and based on Roman law
** Private la ...
which is founded on the principles laid out by the
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, though many of the most important laws, for example most regulations of the civil code (''
Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch
The ''Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (, ), abbreviated BGB, is the civil code of Germany. In development since 1881, it became effective on 1 January 1900, and was considered a massive and groundbreaking project.
The BGB served as a template in se ...
'', or BGB) were developed prior to the 1949 constitution. It is composed of
public law
Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a State (polity), state, between Separation of powers, different branches of governments, as well as relationship ...
(''öffentliches Recht''), which regulates the relations between a citizen/person and the state (including
criminal law) or two bodies of the state, and the
private law, (''Privatrecht'') which regulates the relations between two people or companies. It has been subject to a wide array of influences from
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Jus ...
, such as the
Corpus Juris Civilis, to Napoleonic law, such as the
Napoleonic Code.
History
German law has been subject to many influences over the centuries. Until Medieval times the
Early Germanic Law, derived from the
Salic Law of the Salian Franks and other tribes, was common. With the arrival of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass i