Code

A collection or compendium of laws. A complete system of positive law, scientifically arranged, and promulgated by legislative authority. Johnson v. Harrison, 47 Minn. 575, 50 N. W. 923, 28 Am. St. Rep. 382; Railroad Co. v. State, 104 Ga. 831, 31 S. E. 531, 42 L. R. A. 518; Rallroad Co., v. Weiner, 49 Miss. 739. The collection of laws and constitutions made by order of the Emperor Justinian la distinguished by the appellation of "The Code," by way of eminence. See Code ox Justinian. A body of law established by the legislative authority, and intended to set forth, in generalized and systematic form, the principles of the entire law, whether written or unwritten, positive or customary, derived from enactment or from precedent. Abbott. A code is to be distinguished from a digest. The subject-matter of the latter is usually reported decisions of the courts. But there are also digests of statutes. These consist of an orderly collection and classification of the existing statutes of a state or nation, whlle a code is promulgated as one new law covering the whole field of jurisprudence.

— Code civil. The code which embodies the civil law of France. Framed in the first instance by a commission of jurists appointed in 1800. This code, after having passed both the tribunate and the legislative body, was promulgated in 1804 as the "Code Civil des Frangais." When Napoleon became emperor, the name was changed to that of "Code Napoleon," by which it is still often designated, though it is now officially styled by its original name of "Code Civil."

— Code de commerce. A French code, enacted in 1807, as a supplement to the Code Napoleon, regulating commercial transactions, the laws of business, bankruptcies, and the jurisdiction and procedure of the courts dealing with these subjects.

— Code de procedure civil. That part of the Code Napoleon which regulates the system of courts, their organization, civil procedure, special and extraordinary remedies, and the execution of judgments.

— Code d'instructiou criminelle. A French code, enacted in 1808, regulating criminal procedure.

— Code Napoleon. See Code Civil.

— Code noir. Fr. The black code. A body of laws which formerly regulated the institution of slavery in the French colonies.

— Code of Justinian. The Code of Justinian (Codex Jus-tinianeua) was a collection of imperial constitutions, compiled, by order of that emperor, by a commission of ten jurists, including Tribonian, and promulgated A. D. 529. It comprised twelve books, and was the first of the four compilations of law which make up the Corpus Juris Cixnhs. This name is often met in a connection indicating that the entire Corpus Juris Civilis is intended, or, sometimes, the Digest; but its use should be confined to the Codex.

— Code penal. The penal or criminal code of France, enacted in 1810.-

— Codification. The process of collecting and arranging the laws of a country or state into a code, i. e., into a complete system of positive law, scientifically ordered, and promulgated by legislative authority.

A body of laws; a authority, — either a mere system of laws founded on and criminal have been western states. Code civil: rection of Napoleon, and France, — called under the Justinian: a collection of compiled by Tribonian and Justinian, A. D. 529; and so of Theodosius, published collections, which make up odosius or Theodosian code: odosius the younger, A. D. sixteen books, of all the more properly called the

i A reduction and revision of the law and procedure of a political communitj', upon one or more general subjects, and the enactment of this new, systematized statement as one statute. An enactment of a more or less complete system of law, or of procedure, or of both law and procedure, upon one or more general subjects. Codifleation. The act or process of reducing all the law upon one or more general subjects to a code. The reduction of the existing law to an orderly written system, freed from the needless technicalities, obscurities, and other defects which the experience of its administration has disclosed.2 Codify. To reduce to the form of a code. Uncodified: not reduced to a code. Codifler. One who makes or assists in making a code. " A code ought to be based upon the principle that it aims at nothing more than the reduction to a definite and systematic shape of the results obtained and sanctioned by the experience of many centuries.^ The codes of New York have been the most celebrated and influential in this country. In that State the work of codification began under the constitution of 1846. Commissioners reported as complete the codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure in 1850, the Political 'Code in 1859, the Penal Code in 1864, and the Civil Code in 1865. Each of these has since been revised. The code of Civil Procedure, with some changes, has been adopted in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Dakota, Idaho. Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming; and the code of Criminal Procedure, in Arizona, Arkans£ts, California, Dakota, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. California and Dakota have also adopted the substance of tjie other three codes. Other States have partial revisions or consolidations sometimes called " codes." The New York codes are said to have also had an influence in framing the system adopted in England by the Judieatm-e Act of 1873.« In 1883 a codification of civil and criminal statutes was adopted in Alabama; a code of civil procedure in 1 F. code; L. codex^ a tablet, a. book. Codify, codifler, and codification are pronounced cod' —. 2 3 Stephen, Hist. Cr. L. Eng. 351. ' Mr. Justice Stephen. ■■See 19 Alb. Law J. 193 (1879)— David Dudley Field; Connecticut; and a civil code in Virginia, taking effect January 1, 1888. A large portion of the modern codes is but declaratory of the common law as expounded by the courts.' A code is a general collection or compilation of laws by public authority; a collection and compilation of general statutes.. The rule is, that when a statute is revised, or when one statute is framed from another, some parts being omitted, the parts so omitted are annulled. It must be presumed that the legislature has declared its entire will.^ See Revise.

A general system of the law, embodied and authorized by legislative enactment. Code civil or Code Napoleon: a code of the law of persons and property, estabhshed in Erance under Napoleon I.

[Lat. codex.] A body of laws; a collection or compilation of laws, by public authority.* A code may be either a mere compilation of existing laws, (though this is more properly a digest,) or a new system of laws founded on new fundamental principles. P. Cyclopcedia.

legislation, signifies in general a collection of laws; it is a name given by way of eminence to a collection of such laws made by the legislature. Among the most noted may be mentioned the followi ng:.