The Civil Code codifies core areas of private law. It has five parts. The first part is dedicated to a legal status of a person as an individual. The second regulates family law – e.g. the institute of marriage and the rights and obligations of husband and wife, parents and children. Although the Code does include registered partnership, it explicitly prohibits adoption to a person in a registered partnership. The rest in concerned mainly with property rights. The civil code regulation effective since 1 January 2014 is a result of eleven years of work of the recodification committee of the Ministry of Justice. Together with the Commercial Corporations Act and the Private International Law Act it constitutes a complete recodification of private law in the Czech Republic. It brings new and modern regulation of relations governed by civil law, with emphasis on personality rights, free will / more choice when writing a will or unified regulation of obligation laws.

All legal systems in the EU have two differentiated parts: the one that is aimed at individuals and the one that is aimed at the society and its relationship with figures of authority.

Civil or private law main intention is to protect the rights of the individual person, and it usually handles aspects such as family, patrimony, marriage, lease… It is more focused on the private relations that exist among individuals, rather than looking at more “public affairs”. Civil law is pretty common in all European countries, as it is historically influenced by the Roman Empire.

Regarding public law, it states and governs the relationship between the individuals and the state. Public law usually regulates the Government and its intervention in the rights of the population, but the concrete points included on it will always depend on the country’s legal system.

Through the next chapter we will be able to see the differences between civil and public law and how they are incorporated in the legal system of the country.