Code of law
A systematic collection of statutes covering a complete system of laws.
A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a systematic collection of statutes. It is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the code was enacted, by a process of codification. Though the process and motivations for codification are similar in different common law and civil law systems, their usage is different.
Lore & Background
The legal code was a common feature of the legal systems of the ancient Middle East. In addition, the Reforms of Urukagina (Code of Urukagina, c. In Europe, Roman law, especially the Corpus Juris Civilis, became the basis of the legal systems of many countries. The codification movement gathered pace after the rise of nation-states after the Treaty of Westphalia.
Reader's Guide
Codes of law have served as foundational instruments for organizing and standardizing legal systems across civilizations. In civil law countries, a code typically exhaustively covers the complete system of law, such as civil law or criminal law. In common law countries with legislative practices in the English tradition, codes modify the existing common law only to the extent of their express or implicit provision, leaving the common law otherwise intact. The Continental civil law tradition spread around the world along with European cultural and military dominance in recent centuries. Codifications also became more common in common law systems; for example, a criminal code is found in a number of common law jurisdictions in Australia and the Americas. In the Americas, the influence of Continental legal codes has manifested itself in two ways: in civil law jurisdictions, legal codes in the Continental tradition are common; in common law jurisdictions, there has been a strong trend towards codification, though the result is not always a legal code as found in civil law jurisdictions—for instance, the California Civil Code largely codifies common law doctrine and is very different in form and content from all other civil codes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a code of law?
A code of law is a structured, comprehensive gathering of statutes designed to cover an entire legal system or a specific legal area as it stood when the code was enacted. It is produced through the process known as codification.
How do common law and civil law systems use codes of law differently?
Although both traditions employ codification with similar underlying motivations, the practical role of a code differs between them. In civil law systems the code tends to serve as the primary source of law, whereas common law systems treat codes as one component alongside judicial precedent.
What is the goal of codification?
Codification aims to gather scattered and sometimes contradictory legal rules into a single, organized document so the full body of law on a subject can be consulted in one place. It captures the state of the law at the moment the code is enacted.
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