in general, legal systems can be split between civil law and common law systems. modern scholars argue that the significance of this distinction has progressively declined; the numerous legal transplants, typical of modern law, result in the sharing by modern legal systems of many features traditionally considered typical of either common law or civil law. the term "civil law", referring to the civilian legal system originating in continental europe, should not be confused with "civil law" in the sense of the common law topics distinct from criminal law and public law.