Legal Definitions - corpus juris

The term corpus juris refers to the complete collection or entire body of laws that govern a particular jurisdiction, legal system, or specific area of law. It encompasses all statutes, regulations, judicial decisions, and legal principles that collectively form the legal framework.

• Imagine all the laws in a country like Canada – from its Constitution to federal statutes, provincial laws, municipal bylaws, and the vast body of court rulings that interpret these laws. This entire, comprehensive collection of legal rules and principles that govern Canadian society is often referred to as the corpus juris of Canada. It represents the complete legal framework within which the nation operates.

• When legal experts discuss all the rules, regulations, and court precedents specifically related to environmental protection – such as laws governing pollution, wildlife conservation, and resource management – they are referring to the corpus juris of environmental law. This includes everything from national environmental acts and international treaties to significant court decisions that have shaped this specialized field, forming a complete body of law on the subject.

• A state government might undertake a massive project to compile and organize all its current statutes, administrative rules, and relevant judicial interpretations into a single, multi-volume publication. This comprehensive compilation, designed to be an exhaustive reference for all the state's laws, would be considered a corpus juris for that particular state's legal system, providing a unified and complete body of its legislation.