JUS CIVILE

4 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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JUS CIVILEAuthored
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Definition
Jus civile (Latin: "civil law") carries two distinct but historically connected meanings in legal usage. 1. The body of law peculiar to a particular state or people — that is, the law which a community establishes for itself, governing its own members, as distinct from law common to all peoples. In this sense, jus civile is essentially synonymous with what Blackstone called "municipal law": the internal, positive law of a specific political community. 2. More specifically, the civil law of Rome — the body of law developed by and for Roman citizens, as distinguished from the jus gentium (the law of nations) applicable to all peoples and the jus naturale (natural law). In this narrower Roman law sense, jus civile encompassed the interpretation of the Twelve Tables, subsequent statutes, senatorial decrees, imperial constitutions, and the writings of authoritative jurists. It could be either written (jus scriptum) or unwritten (jus non scriptum), the latter being law approved by custom.
Common Confusion
Jus civile is frequently confused with jus gentium and jus naturale, the two other great divisions of Roman jurisprudence. The distinction matters: jus civile applied only to Roman citizens (or the citizens of a given state); jus gentium applied universally among all peoples; and jus naturale was the philosophical foundation underlying both. A researcher encountering the phrase "civil law" in a historical source must determine whether the writer means jus civile in its narrow Roman sense, jus civile as the general law of a particular state, or — in post-medieval usage — the entire Romano-canonical legal tradition as opposed to the common law. These meanings do not always overlap, and conflating them distorts interpretation. Additionally, jus civile should not be confused with "civil law" in the modern common law distinction between civil and criminal law. That usage is entirely separate.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES Jus civile Romanorum: The civil law of the Roman people specifically, as invoked in the Institutes of Justinian. This is the narrowest and most precisely defined form of the term. Jus civile as municipal law: The broader usage — the law of any particular state considered as its own domestic legal order. This is the sense in which Burrill and Blackstone deploy the concept. Jus scriptum / Jus non scriptum: Within Roman jus civile, law was further divided into written law (statutes, edicts, constitutions) and unwritten law (custom and usage). Rapalje & Lawrence identify this division as encompassing the whole of the Roman jus civile.
Why It Matters in Research
The term presents a layered ambiguity that compounds across historical periods. A medieval canonist using jus civile almost certainly means Roman law as preserved in Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis. An early modern English writer using the same phrase may mean civil law as opposed to common law — a jurisdictional distinction pointing toward Admiralty, Ecclesiastical, or Chancery courts. A modern comparative lawyer may mean something closer to the civilian legal tradition generally. In historical legal sources, the distinction between jus civile and jus gentium carries doctrinal weight: certain legal capacities (particularly regarding contracts, property, and status) depended on which body of law applied and to whom. Researchers working in Roman law, canon law, or early modern English legal history must track which sense is operative in the source at hand. For Law Mind corpus research, jus civile appears most frequently in foundational jurisprudential discussions, historical treatises on Roman law, and comparative law scholarship. It is rarely a live doctrinal term in modern American or English case law, making its appearance in primary sources a reliable signal that the writer is operating in a civil law or historical tradition rather than a common law one. Cross-reference with jus gentium, jus naturale, and lex when tracing the full framework.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries largely agree on the core meaning but reflect different emphases. Black's (both editions) and Burrill converge on the Roman law definition rooted in Justinian's Institutes (1.2.1): jus civile is the law a people establishes for itself, peculiar to that state, as opposed to the law common to all humanity. Burrill adds the important Blackstonian gloss — "otherwise called municipal law" — which bridges Roman terminology and English legal vocabulary usefully. Rapalje & Lawrence go furthest in explaining the internal structure of jus civile: they identify it with the interpretation of the Twelve Tables and the whole system of Roman laws, subdivided into jus scriptum and jus non scriptum, with the latter being law "approved by usage." This structural account is the most granular of the four and is the most useful for a researcher navigating Roman law sources. The Black's 2nd Ed. entry reproduced in the source material appears to be a partial excerpt concerning jus ad rem versus jus in re — a different term — suggesting a digitization or extraction artifact. Researchers should treat that excerpt with caution; it does not speak to jus civile directly. What none of the historical dictionaries adequately address is the post-classical, post-Glossator usage of jus civile as a general descriptor for the civil law tradition standing in contrast to canon law or common law. That gap is significant for researchers working in medieval or early modern legal history, where the term's institutional and jurisdictional valence may matter as much as its doctrinal content.
Jurisdictional Note
Jus civile is not an operative term in modern American, English, or Commonwealth common law systems. Its relevance is primarily historical and comparative. In civil law jurisdictions (France, Germany, Spain, Latin America), the broader tradition it names — Romano-canonical law — remains the foundational substrate of positive law, though the Latin phrase itself is academic rather than statutory.
Related Terms
Jus gentium — Jus naturale — Jus in re — Jus ad rem — Corpus Juris Civilis — Municipal law — Civil law — Lex — Jus scriptum — Jus non scriptum — Common law (as contrasting tradition) — Twelve Tables
JUS CIVILEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
Civil law. The system of law peculiar to one state or people. Inst. 1, 2, 1. Particularly, in Roman law, the civil law of the Roman people, as distin- guished from the jus gentium. The term is also applied to the body of law called, em- phatically, the "civil law." The jus civile and the jus gentium are distin- guished in this way. All people ruled by statutes and customs use a law partly peculiar to them- selves, partly common to all men. The law each people has settled for itself is peculiar to the state itself, and is called "jus civile," as being peculiar to that very state. The law, again, that natural reason has settled among all men,-the law that is guarded among all peoples quite alike,-is called the "jus gentium," and all nations use it as if law. The Roman people, therefore, use a law that is partly peculiar to itself, partly common to all men. Hunter, Rom. Law, 38. But this is not the only, or even the general, use of the words. What the Roman jurists had chief- ly in view, when they spoke of “jus civile," was not local as opposed to cosmopolitan law, but the old law of the city as contrasted with the newer law introduced by the prætor, (jus prætorium, jus honorarium.) Largely, no doubt, the jus gen-
JUS CIVILEmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
an inchoate or incomplete right to a thing; the latter, a complete and perfect right to a thing. See The rlos EF. Roses, 177 U. S. 655, 20 Sup. Ct. 803, 44 L. Ed. 929; The Young Mechanic, 30 Fed. Cas. 873. In canon law. A right to a thing. An inchoate and imperfect right, such as is gained by nomination and Institution; as distinguished from jus in re, or complete and full right, such as is acquired by corporal possession. 2 Bl. Comm. 312. Civil law. The system of law peculiar to one state or people. Inst. 1, 2,1. Particularly, in Roman law, the civil law of the Roman people, as distinguished from the jus gentium. The term is also applied to the body of law called, emphatic ally, the “civil law.” The jue civile and the jus gentium are distinguished in this way. All people ruled by statutes and customs use a law partly peculiar to themselves, partly common to men. The law each people has settled for itself is peculiar to the state itself, and is called ‘jus cirile,” as being peculiar to that very state. The law, again, that natural reason has settled among all men,—the law that is guarded among all peoples quite alike,—is called the “jus gentium,” and all nations use it as if law. The Roman people, therefore. use a law that is partly peculiar to itself, partly common to all men. Hunter, Rom. Law, 38. But this is not the only, or even the general, use of the words. What the Roman jurists hac chiefly .in view, when they spoke of “jus civile,” was not local as opposed to cosmopolitan law, but the old law of the city as contrasted with the newer law introduced by the pretor, (jus pretorium, jus honorarium.) _ Largely, no doubt, the jus gentium corresponds with the jws pretorium; but the correspondence is not perfect. : Jus civile est quod sibi populus constituit. The civil law is what a people establishes for itself. Inst. 1, 2, 1; Jackson v. Jackson, 1 Johns. (N. Y.) 424, 426.
JUS CIVILEmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888
- The interpretation of the laws of the Twelve Tables, and now of the tum, as explained in the Institutes (i. tit. 2), comprehended the whole of the Jus Civile; for it was all either Scriptum or Non Scriptum, whole system of the Roman laws. See Jus, ?? (Ulp. Dig. 1 tit. 1 s. 6). Jus Scriptum comprehended 2, 7. whatever other divisions there might everything, except that "quod usus approbavit." JUS CIVITATUS.-The freedom of the This division of Jus Scriptum and Non Scriptum city of Rome. It differs from Jus Quiritium does appear in Gaius. It was borrowed from the Greek writers, and seems to have little or no practical application among the Romans. 9. There is another division of the matter of law which appears among the Roman jurists, viz., the Law of Persons, the Law of Things, which is expressed by the phrase "jus quod ad res pertinet;" and the Law of Actions, "jus quod ad actiones pertinet" (Gaius i. 8). -Smith Dict. Antiq. (q. v.), which comprehended all the privileges of a free native The difference is much the same as between denization and naturalization in English law.

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