Code of law

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This article is about exhaustive legislations. For municipal regulations, see legal code (municipal). For the television series, see Code of Law (TV series).
First page of the 1804 original edition of the Napoleonic Code

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.[1] Though the process and motivations for codification are similar in different common law and civil law systems, their usage is different.

In a civil law country, a code of law typically exhaustively covers the complete system of law, such as civil law or criminal law. By contrast, in a common law country with legislative practices in the English tradition, codes modify the existing common law only to the extent of its express or implicit provision, but otherwise leaves the common law intact.

In the United States and other common law countries that have adopted similar legislative practices, a code of law is a standing body of statute law on a particular area, which is added to, subtracted from, or otherwise modified by individual legislative enactments.

History

See also: List of ancient legal codes

The legal code was a common feature of the legal systems of the ancient Middle East. Tablets discovered in the ancient city of Ebla (Tell Mardikh in modern-day Syria) provide the earliest known evidence of a law code, dating back to 2400 BC.[2][3] In addition, The UrukAgina Law Code (2380–2360 BC),[4] the Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100–2050 BC), the Code of Eshnunna (approximately 100 years before Lipit-Ishtar),[5][6] the Code of Lipit-Ishtar (1934–1924 BC),[7] and the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1760 BC), are among the earliest and best preserved legal codes,[8] originating from Sumer, Mesopotamia (now Iraq).

In the

pontifices
, who interpreted the tables to deal with situations far beyond what is contained therein. The Justinian Code collected together existing legal material at the time.

In ancient China, the first comprehensive criminal code was the Tang Code, created in 624 AD in the Tang dynasty. This, and subsequent imperial codes, formed the basis for the penal system of both China and other East Asian states under its cultural influence. The last and best preserved imperial code is the Great Qing Legal Code, created in 1644 upon the founding of the Qing dynasty. This code was the exclusive and exhaustive statement of Chinese law between 1644 and 1912. Though it was in form a criminal code, large parts of the code dealt with civil law matters and the settlement of civil disputes. The code ceased its operation upon the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, but significant provisions remained in operation in Hong Kong until well into the 1970s due to a peculiar interaction between it and the British common law system.

In Europe,

Catholic canon law[9] resulting in the 1917 Code of Canon Law which was replaced by the 1983 Code of Canon Law and whose Eastern counterpart is the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches
.

Meanwhile, African civilizations developed their own legal traditions, sometimes codifying them through consistent oral tradition, as illustrated e.g. by the Kouroukan Fouga, a charter proclaimed by the Mali Empire in 1222–1236, enumerating regulations in both constitutional and civil matters, and transmitted to this day by griots under oath.[10]

The Continental civil law tradition spread around the world along with European cultural and military dominance in recent centuries. During the

People's Republic of China
since 1949.

Meanwhile, 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, and continues to be debated in England.

In the Americas, the influence of Continental legal codes has manifest itself in two ways. In civil law jurisdictions, legal codes in the Continental tradition are common. In common law jurisdictions, however, there has been a strong trend towards codification.[citation needed] The result of such codification, however, is not always a legal code as found in civil law jurisdictions. For example, the California Civil Code largely codifies common law doctrine and is very different in form and content from all other civil codes.

Civil code

A civil code typically forms the core of civil law systems. The legal code typically covers exhaustively the entire system of private law.

Criminal code

A

penal code
is a common feature in many legal systems. Codification of the criminal law allows the criminal law to be more accessible and more democratically made and amended.

See also

References

  1. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Code" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 632–634.
  2. ^ "Law code | Ancient Legal Systems & Modern Legislation". Britannica. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  3. ISBN 978-1-61530-112-6
    .
  4. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.34598.78408. Archived
    from the original on Jul 13, 2023.
  5. ^ Basim Fuad Musallam (Summer 1965). "Law and Authority in Ancient Mesopotamia" (PDF). AUB ScholarWorks. Archived (PDF) from the original on Jul 13, 2023.
  6. ^ Yaron, Reuven (1988). "The Laws of Eshnunna". Noor Library. Archived from the original on Jul 13, 2023.
  7. ^ "The Code of Lipit-Ishtar | by Francis R. Steele, 1948". www.toaz.info.
  8. ^ "Cuneiform law | legal body". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  9. Peters, Edward N. "Master Page on the Pio-Benedictine Code of 1917"
    . CanonLaw.info. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  10. ^ "La première déclaration des droits de l'Homme est africaine". africamix - Blog LeMonde.fr. September 7, 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-03-30. Retrieved 2009-03-27.

van Gulik, R.H. Crime and Punishment in Ancient China: The Tang Yin Pi Shih. Orchid Press, 2007.

ISBN 978-974-524-091-9
.

External links

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