In the world there are legal systems of individual states, and systems and families homogeneous groups of states. The author analyses existing in the Russian and foreign literature concepts and classification of legal systems and legal families, notes their inaccuracies. The terms “legal system” and “law” are often used as similar, different social essence of acting in the world three global legal systems is ignored. For example, Anglo-Saxon capitalist family of law and totalitarian socialist legal system modern Russian and foreign сomparativists denote the same classification unit as family (less often system). New approaches are proposed: a synthesis of legal systems and a new classification of legal families. From the standpoint of formational approach (essence), the author identifies three global system (named), indicating their main differences. Family (content within an entity) are inside of the systems based on the use of socio-cultural approach (named). Civilization al approach can be used to highlight legal systems at different levels of development of mankind, and in some parts of the Earth. The application of this approach to the allocation of “any country of civilizations” (sometimes a separate civilization called Russia) appears to be incorrect. It's too big for one country criterion. But its individual elements can be used for characteristic of features of the legal systems of the states.