Code

a systematic compilation of law, authorized to take the place of preceding laws. By the successive enactment of new laws, repeals, amendments, and reenactments, the laws of a country gradually grow into a state of confusion. Only the best trained lawyers know where to find all the law on a given point. When the law of centuries is gathered together and straightened out,--the law on divorce, for instance, being set forth clearly in a single paragraph or chapter, and all dead clauses omitted.--such a compilation is called the code. If approved by legislative authority, it takes the place of all prior law, and is the only law of the land. One of the most famous codes is the Justinian code, prepared by ten Roman lawyers in the reign of the Emperor Justinian. It is the foundation of the most of the law of the civilized world. Another noted code is the code of Napoleon, prepared under the direction of Napoleon Bonaparte. It took effect in 1804-10. The code of Napoleon is the basis of the law of Louisiana, that state having been at one time a French possession. English law has not been codified. Prussian law was codified during the reign of Frederick the Great. In the United States, the most notable code is that prepared for New York under the supervision of the learned David Dudley Field in 1865. Although the legislature of New York could never be brought to adopt this code, it has formed the basis of codes for a score of states from Ohio to Oregon.