Student Rights in the U.S. and Civil Law Nations.

A discussion of the two legal traditions illuminates this comparison of student rights in common and civil law nations. The United States is among a minority of nations that use common law, a complex system cluttered with processes difficult to explain and loaded with protections for defendents in both criminal and civil cases. In American common law, children have only gradually been granted certain civil rights belonging to adults. As the states have matured politically, they have become both more protective and more restrictive of children's rights. The courts in the American system can only define student rights case by case. In civil law nations, courts do not define rights, which are stated in the constitution and the code of laws. In these documents, the meaning and intent of the law are supposed to be obvious. Civil law nations acknowledge the family as the locus of individual rights, while in American common law individuals are increasingly recognized as having rights separate from the family. Eventually, American courts and legislative bodies will have to decide to what extent it is possible to weaken the family structure and preserve other social institutions. (Author/WD)