Everything about Codified totally explained
» For linguistic codification, see codification (linguistics).In
law,
codification is the process of collecting and restating the law of a
jurisdiction in certain areas, usually by subject, forming a
legal code.
History
The first civilization to codify its laws was ancient
Babylon. The first real set of codified laws, the
Code of Hammurabi, was compiled
circa 1760 BC by the
Babylonian king
Hammurabi, and is the earliest known
civil code.
Besides religious laws such as the
Torah, important codifications were developed in the ancient
Roman Empire, with the compilations of the
Lex Duodecim Tabularum and much later the
Corpus Iuris Civilis. These codified laws were the exceptions rather than the rule, however, as during much of the ancient
Roman laws were left mostly uncodified.
The first
permanent system of codified laws could be found in
China, with the compilation of the
Tang Code in CE 624. This formed the basis of the Chinese
criminal code, which was then replaced by the
Great Qing Legal Code, which was in turn abolished in 1912 following the
Xinhai Revolution and the establishment of the
Republic of China. The new laws of the Republic of China were inspired by the German codified work, the
Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch.. A very influential example in Europe was the French
Napoleonic code of 1804.
Another early system of laws is
Hindu law framed by Manu and called as
Manu Smriti. The
Qur'an and Sunnah are also occasionally used as civil codes in Islamic
Sharia law to some extent.
Codification in common law and civil law jurisdictions
Contrary to popular belief, the
common law has been codified in many jurisdictions in many areas; examples include the
Law of General Obligations of
New York State, the English law relating to
Marine insurance, which was originally judge-made
common law, and the
California Civil Code.
In
civil law jurisdictions, codification has also occurred in many areas.
Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were most notable codifications of law in the Central and Eastern Europe of the 16th century. The codification movement developed out of the philosophy of the
Enlightenment and began in several European countries during the late 18th century (see
civil code). However, it only gained significant momentum with the enactment of the French
Napoleonic Code in 1804.
Example: Codification in the United States
In the United States,
acts of Congress, such as federal statutes, are published chronologically in the order in which they become law — often by being signed by the
President, on an individual basis in official pamphlets called "slip laws," and are grouped together in official bound book form, also chronologically, as "session laws." The "session law" publication for Federal statutes is called the
United States Statutes at Large. Any given act may be only one page long, or hundreds of pages, in length. An act may be classified as either a "Public Law" or a "Private Law."
Because each Congressional act may contain laws on a variety of topics, many acts, or portions thereof are also rearranged and published in a topical, subject matter codification. The official codification of Federal statutes is called the
United States Code. Generally, only "Public Laws" are codified. The United States Code is divided into "titles" (based on overall topics) numbered 1 through 50.
Title 18, for example, contains many of the Federal criminal statutes. Title 26 is the
Internal Revenue Code.
Even in code form, however, many statutes by their nature pertain to more than one topic. For example, the statute making
tax evasion a felony pertains to both criminal law and tax law, but is found only in the Internal Revenue Code. Other statutes pertaining to taxation are found not in the Internal Revenue Code but instead, for example, in the Bankruptcy Code in
Title 11 of the United States Code, or the Judiciary Code in
Title 28.
Further, portions of some Congressional acts, such as the provisions for the effective dates of amendments to codified laws, are themselves not codified at all. These statutes may by found by referring to the acts as published in "slip law" and "session law" form. However, commercial publications that specialize in legal materials often arrange and print the uncodified statutes with the codes to which they pertain.
In the United States, the individual states, either officially or through private commercial publishers, generally follow the same three-part model for the publication of their own statutes: slip law, session law, and codification.
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