rticle
SOCIOLOGY. The historical method on which practically all the articles
of the present edition of the _Ency. Brit._ are planned, makes the
whole work itself in essentials the most comprehensive history of
civilization in existence.

CIVIL LAW, a phrase which, with its Latin equivalent _jus civile_, has
been used in a great variety of meanings. _Jus civile_ was sometimes
used to distinguish that portion of the Roman law which was the proper
or ancient law of the city or state of Rome from the _jus gentium_, or
the law common to all the nations comprising the Roman world, which was
incorporated with the former through the agency of the praetorian
edicts. This historical distinction remained as a permanent principle of
division in the body of the Roman law. One of the first propositions of
the Institutes of Justinian is the following:--"Jus autem civile vel
gentium ita dividitur. Omnes populi qui legibus et moribus reguntur
partim suo proprio, partim communi omnium hominum jure utuntur; nam quod
quisque populus ipsi sibi jus constituit, id ipsius civitatis proprium
est, vocaturque jus civile quasi jus proprium ipsius civitatis. Quod
vero naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit, id apud omnes
peraeque custoditur, vocaturque jus gentium quasi quo jure omnes gentes
utuntur." The _jus gentium_ of this passage is elsewhere identified with
_jus naturale_, so that the distinction comes to be one between civil
law and natural or divine law. The municipal or private law of a state
is sometimes described as civil law in distinction to public or
international law. Again, the municipal law of a state may be divided
into civil law and criminal law. The phrase, however, is applied _par
excellence_ to the system of law created by the genius of the Roman
people, and handed down by them to the nations of the modern world (see
ROMAN LAW). The civil law in this sense would be distinguished from the
local or national law of modern states. The civil law in this sense is
further to be distinguished from that adaptation of its principles to
ecclesiastical purposes which is known as the canon law (q.v.).

CIVIL LIST,

History

the English term for the account in which are contained all the expenses
immediately applicable to the support of the British sovereign's
household and the honour and dignity of the crown. An annual sum is
settled by the British parliament at the beginning of the reign on the
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