Some Considerations on the Existing Legal Systems at International Level

The legal reality is an inalienable dimension of the social reality and under certain specific historical circumstances, its existence cannot be separated from the existence of the other parts of the society, by which it is influenced and which it influences in its turn. The formal sources imply a preexisting legal reality, a multiplicity of legal relations, which call for general, compulsory rules of conduct. Law, which becomes objective due to the formal sources, does not exist independently of the collective will, interest or conscience. On the contrary, it is their expression, by means of the legal norms. At present, apart from the nations with an overwhelming proportion in favor of one of the formal sources of law, it should be noted that at a global level, there are various states with a mixed legal system, which means that it is based on a combination between two or even more sources, considered in respect of their signification, related to the form of the legal rules. The legal systems, characterized by the fact that the norms thereof rely predominantly on one particular formal source of law, which is also the main one, of the states, are classified into several legal families, specifically the large Romano-Germanic legal family, the Anglo-Saxon legal system, the Muslim law and the customary law.