Civil law systems are characterized by which features?

• A. Codified law (legislations), inquisitorial system of trial, judge can initiate investigations and interview witnesses in an active way.
• B. Common law, adversarial system, and jury decisions.
• C. No codification and purely judge-made law.
• D. Public law dominance with administrative proceedings.

Answer: (A)

Civil law systems are defined by codified statutes and an inquisitorial process where the judge takes a proactive role in uncovering facts. In these systems, a comprehensive code lays out the rules, and judges interpret and apply those codes to cases, often directing investigations and questioning witnesses themselves. This contrasts with common law, where law evolves through court decisions and the proceedings are adversarial—each side presents evidence and the judge acts as an umpire, with juries sometimes deciding the outcome. The other options misfit because they either emphasize no codification and judge-made law, which is not how civil law operates, or highlight public-law dominance and administrative proceedings, which isn’t the defining feature of civil-law systems.