Gothic C.—The laws of the barbarians were all collected into a single C., which bore the title of Codex Legunt Darbarorurn. Of these various systems, the first was that of Alaric, king of the Visigoths, mentioned above, augmented by the legislative labors of his successors. To this C. was given the title of the Gothic law, par excellence, and it was the best and fullest of all the barbarian codes. The second C. comprised in the collection was that of the Burgundians; the third, the Salic law (q.v.), composed when the Franks issued from their German forests; the fourth, the law of the Frisians, which dates from the times of their conquerors, Pepin and Charles Martel. These, and all the other codes by which the tribes of the n. which overthrew the empire were governed, merged at last in the feudal system, and a mass of local customs speedily arose which introduced the greatest uncertainty into jurisprudence.
French Codes.—Charles VII. was the first of the kings of France who attempted, by a series of general ordonnances, to introduce something like uniformity into the legis lation of France; and several of his successors, in particular Louis XI. and Henry entertained the idea of establishing a single C. for the whole kingdom. A C., having this object in view, was subsequently prepared by Michel de 31arillac, and published in 1629. It consisted of 471 articles, and is spoken of by French jurisconsults in terms of the highest praise. Its reception, however, was very partial, confined indeed to the jurisdiction of the parliament of Dijon. Louis XIV., who, amongst his other ambitions, affected that of becoming the French Justinian, published a series of very important ordonnances, embracing most of the leading departments of the law. The work was executed by a commission composed of the most distinguished magistrates and advo cates of the kingdom, and before the various ordonnances received the royal assent, the king caused them to be discussed with the principal officers of parliament. Minutes of these discussions have been preserved, and they constitute one of the most precious monuments of the history of French jurisprudence. Many important chapters were subsequently added to this C., before it assumed the form in which, as the C. of Louis XV., it represents the condition of French jurisprudence previous to the revolution.
Such, with the addition of sundry attempts at legislation during the period of anarchy which succeeded, was the position of affairs when Napoleon assembled that brilliant band of jurisconsults—Tronchet, Portalis, Merlin, Bigot-PriNimeneu, Trcil hard, Pensey, etc.—by whose labors, aided in no insignificant degree by that marvelous
insight into human affairs which lie himself possessed, the modern legislation of France, and of no small portion of the rest of Europe, was called into existence. Such was the energy which he contrived to bring to bear on the work, that the vast edifice of the C. Napoleon, or C. Civil, was reared in a single year, the first title having been promulgated on 5th Mar., 1803, and the last on 30th Mar., 1804. The C. de Procedure Civile followed in 1806, the C. de Commerce in 1807, the C. d'Instruction Criminelle in 1808, and two years afterwards, the C. P6nal. The period of the restoration pro duced several codes of less importance—forest-laws, fishing-laws, etc. The C. Napoleon received the force of law in the countries which were successively subjugated by France; in Italy, in the kingdom of Holland, in the Hanseatic departments, in the grand duchy of Berg. In the Rhenish provinces and in Belgium, it still forms the basis of legislation. Several other countries have since codified their legislation, in most cases adopting modifications of the C. Napoleon.
CODE (ante) is defined in the United States as a body of laws established by the legislative authority of the state, and designed to regulate completely, so far as a statute may, the subjects to which it relates. The earliest and most complete code of the American states is that of Louisiana, finished in 1824, the work of Edward Livingston, a member of the celebrated family of that name in New York, and was based on the code Napoleonenne. It has 3,522 articles in one series, but comprises three books-1. of Persons; 2. of Things, and the Modification of Property; 3. of the Different Modes of Acquiring Property. A code was completed in Massachusetts in 1835, and it was revised 20 years later. New York's first code formed the revised statutes of 1830. There have been various more or less complete revisions, and there is the whole or a part of a further revision now before the legislature. All except the latest new states have compilations of codified editions of their laws. David Dudley Field of New York has been active and eminent in the work of codification. See FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY.