There are certain general categories which outstand from the different legal systems in each country or time. They are shared by a certain group or whole of systems and this makes it possible to identify different legal families. In other terms, from the legal tradition in which each legal system is affiliated we can speak of a legal family. However, a national legal system can belong to a determined legal family and, simultaneously, at the local or “communitary” jurisdiction, a diverse legal system belonging to a different legal tradition can exist.

Canada is an example of this situation: its national system belongs to the common law tradition, while the Québec’s province system belongs to the Civil Law tradition. Another example can be found among the different Latin American countries with indigenous population, whose national systems belong to the Civil Law family and, simultaneously, in more reduced territorial jurisdictions, the so called indigenous consuetudinary law is applied in electoral matters as well. 

Indeed, there are several legal families derived from a common origin or past, from similar institutions, from a language code or shared concepts, from the similarity of the sources of the law, from the community of proceedings and the methods or techniques used by jurists, as well as from the similar philosophical, economical or political principles which inform each legal system. 

Knowing the family in which each national legal system belongs to is useful to widen the perspective of the institution or the electoral process subject to analysis, as well as to obtain a more informed and reliable approximation and to comprehend the differences between each legal system. 

Since the study must take into account the family which the system belong to and consider its cultural, economical, political and social contexts, the translation of terminology shall not lack of any criticism or be automatic, whether it is to disqualify a certain legal system or not, when studying, explaining or comprehending a certain country’s or countries’ electoral institutions, instruments, or processes.  

The Roman-Germanic, Roman-Canonic, or civil law families, have their origins in Roman Law (the Twelve Tables, Corpus Iuris Civile, and Corpus Iuris Canonici) and was decisively influenced by Canonic Law. Also, it was enriched with the contributions of commentators and “post-commentators”, and the work of the Latin-Germanic universities’ jurists. This way the so-called ius commune was formed. Later through codification processes, from which several civil, commerce, criminal or procedural codes were made, passed to the conformation of national laws arriving in the creation of the constitutions. In such family, the development of civil laws and the codification of legal dispositions based on justice and equity was favored. Including the Scandinavian region, Latin America, and several African countries who where Continental Europe’s colonies, the different legal systems of several Continental European nations fundamentally belong to this legal family. 

During the XI century, in England appeared the common law family. This legal tradition has had a wide diffusion in the majority of the English-speaking countries. It is characterized by the creation of legal dispositions coming from the judicial resolutions. In other terms, the system follows the judicial precedent through which a particular case receives the same legal solution given to a previous and similar case. Therefore, opposite to the families that favor legislative creation, the law is a product of the judges’ labor. Basically, the United Kingdome’s, United States’, some African, American and Oceanic nations’ belonging to the Commonwealth legal system is embraced by this legal family. Most of them enforce English Law and recognizes the monarch of the United Kingdom as Head of State.

Since they do not share a common juridical tradition, the religious systems do not constitute a legal family. The only adhesive feature is the religious or philosophical nature of its law, where law and religion are practically synonyms. In the different systems belonging to this tradition, the applicability of this mixture of conduct rules is restricted to certain subjects, such as in Hindu or Brahmanic law, observed in wide regions of India, or Hebrew law, kept by Orthodox Jewish communities spread through many countries.

 However, there is a large amount of countries whose citizens’ great majority practice the Islamic religion and effectively share legal culture and tradition; therefore it is possible to agglutinate them in the Islamic family. Every area of the law is ruled by the sanction of the State. Its origin goes up to the VII century, time in which Mohamed wrote the Koran, the book where the dogmas and precepts that rule de social and religious organizations of the Islamic people (basically located in Northern Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Northern Oceania) are contained.