Classifications of Law The classification of law starts with the understanding of the two major legal systems, common law and civil law. Common Law is the legal system that emphasizes the role of judges in deciding the meaning of laws and how they apply as a whole. Civil law is relies more on legislation than judicial decisions to determine what the law is. Like common law nations decide the facts in a disputed case, but civil law courts are not obligated to follow recent judicial decisions or presidents. (O. Lee Reed, 2013) The famous trial of MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co. in 1916 in which Judge Benjamin Cardozo based his decision on a similar case that was tried about a year earlier against the makers of Cadillac. These cases involved a wheel that was defective that was not made with their own manufacturer but bought from another. This would be an example of common law because Buick sold a defective product that could cause harm and the judge decided that Buick was at fault with not using there said manufacturer (Strauss, 2007). An example of Civil Law would be if you lived in Kansas and purchases a car, in this state you must car insurance in order to get that car titled. One day your car catches on fire and totals the car out. You have a contract with your insurance company where they will pay for the damage as long as you pay the premiums and do not commit fraud and file false accident reports. This would be a type of civil law called Contract Law; it is the insurance company’s job to pay when something happens to your car and your job to pay the contract length (Strauss, 2007). Another way of classifying laws is to divide them into matters of public and private law. Public law is matters that involve the regulation of society as opposed to individuals interacting. Private law is the body of law governing private persons, their properties, and relations