CODE, a term now generally confined to jurisprudence, and used to designate a sys tematic compilation of law authorized by gov ernmental authority to take the place of prior i existing law. It is in this sense applied to the codes of Theodosius, Justinian and Napoleon. The word is used more generally in the United States as applied to a concise, comprehensive, systematic formation and re-enactment of the law, deduced from both its principal sources, the pre-existing statutes and the adjudications of courts as distinguished from compilation of statute law only. Codes such as here described have been adopted and are in use in many States. They are, in the most part, modeled upon the Code of Civil Procedure of New The purpose of a code is to simplify methods of legal procedure and to model and bring to gether in a codified form the confused mass of laws, contradictions, repetitions and disorder which have grown up during a long period of time. Such a codification of law has always been deemed a most difficult task, and though many times agitated in England, it has never been earnestly undertaken, and is not likely to be for some time. The same causes which made such a codification necessary in the time of the Emperor Justinian exist to-day in many coun tries and in most of the States of the United States. While the Corpus Juris Civilis, or body of civil laws, drawn up by Justinian's commis sion of 10 learned civilians, was the most im portant and complete of ancient codes up to that time, there had been other compilations under the empire. These compilations had been made by private lawyers, and formed the basis of the Codex Gregorianus et Hermogenianus. which in turn were the models for the Imperial codes of Theodosius and Justinian.
The Codex Theodosianus was the work of a commission of 16, to whom, in 435 A.D., the Emperor Theodosius entrusted the task of lecting the edicts and constitutions. Published in 438 A.D., it was a work of great importance, and formed the masterpiece on which every later code was based. It was the initiative of a digest of the whole Roman law. In 528 the Emperor Justinian ordered a new collection to be made, and for this purpose appointed 10 commissioners with full power to make such changes as they might deem necessary in the language of the constitution. They were thorized in their compilation to use the codes. Hermogenian and Theodosian and the constitutions, with the understanding that the new code was to supersede the sources from it had been compiled. The Code Jus tinian was cotnpleted within 14 months, and was subsequently revised to talce in new deqsions and constitutions of the emperor. The ongmal code was lost. The revised one, which has been preserved, was published in 534. It is divided uito 12 books and each book into titles.
Code Civil Code of France, in force at the present day, talces its name from the great Napoleon. It was undertaken under the consulship of Napoleon I by the most em.i nent jurists of France, and was published in 1804. It is the most celebrated of modern codes. The Code Napoleon (under which name four other codes of commercial law, criminal law, penal law and the law of procedure, drawn up at the same time, are often included) was a code in the fullest and strictest meaning of the word, in that it was not merely a collection of the law, but was a complete and thorough statement of the law. The need of a codifica
tion of the laws of France had been urged by eminent jurists and statesmen for some time before Napoleon took the matter up and car ried it through. Previous to the adoption of the Code Napoleon there had been some partial codes in France; such as the Code Henri, tnade by Brisson in the reign of Henry III ; the Code Murvillac or Michau under Lotus XIII (1629), relating to judicial procedure, and the Code Louis XV, by Chaussepierre, containing the ordinances from 1722 to 1740. There were several of these ordinances enacted in the reign of Louis XVI. No decided move was made to bring about a codification of the confused con dition of the laws of France for the purpose of shaping them into a homogeneous jurispru dence until the Revolution had cleared the way. By the consular decree, 12 Aug. 1800, a com mission was constituted to compare the order which had been followed in the preparation of the projects for a civil code 4hitherto published, to determine the plan which the commissioners should thinic best to adopt, and to discuss the chief principles of civil legislation.° Na.poleon, on becoming consul, appointed a commission headed by M. Tronchet, and includ ing Portalis, Bigot de Preameneu and Maleville, to review all previous efforts at codification and to suggest a new plan. In 1801 the com missioners reported a draft for a civil code, which was submitted to the Court of Cassation and other courts of appeal, and with the reports of the. judges was finally brought before the -Council of State, in which Napoleon (then first consul) presided in person and took part in the discussion as to the terms arid scope of the oode. 'The whole revision after much debate was finally adopted under the title of Les Cinque Codes, consisting of the Civil Code, dis tinguished by the name Code Napoleon, the Code of Criminal Procedure, Penal Code, the Code of Civil Procedure and the Code of Commerce. The entire work was first pub lished under the title Code civil des FranGais. but Napoleon subsequently had it published as the Code Napoleon, as he considered the code one of the crowning glories of lus reign. The Code Napoleon consists of 2,281 articles.. It has been said of this code that it is the product of Roman and customary law, together with the ordinances o.f the kings and the laws of the Revolu uon. Although political upheavals have caused some changes and modifications, the code remains virtually the same as when it left the hands of its framers. The extent of its influ ence upon the laws of other countries has been very great, as it formed the basis of the codes of the two Sicilies (1819), the Netherlands in 1837, the Swiss cantons from 1819 to 1855, Bolivia in 1843 and the Civil Code of the State of Louisiana.