Codification (law)

Ancient Sumer's Code of Ur-Nammu was compiled circa 2050–1230 BC, and is the earliest known surviving civil code. Three centuries later, the Babylonian king Hammurabi enacted the set of laws named after him.

Besides religious laws such as Halakha, important codifications were developed in the ancient Roman Empire, with the compilations of the Lex Duodecim Tabularum and much later the Corpus Juris Civilis. These codified laws were the exceptions rather than the rule, however, as during much of ancient times Roman laws were left mostly uncodified.

The first permanent system of codified laws could be found in imperial China[note 1] , with the compilation of the Tang Code in AD 624. This formed the basis of the Chinese criminal code, which was eventually 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, dating back to the 2nd century BC. The use of civil codes in Islamic Sharia law began with the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century AD.

Civil law jurisdictions rely, by definition, on codification. A notable early example were the Statutes of Lithuania, in the 16th century. The movement towards codification gained momentum during the Enlightenment, and was implemented in several European countries during the late 18th century (see civil code). However, it only became widespread after the enactment of the French Napoleonic Code (1804), which has heavily influenced the legal systems of many other countries.

Common law has been codified in many jurisdictions and in many areas of law: examples include criminal codes in many jurisdictions, and include the California Civil Code and the Consolidated Laws of New York (New York State).

Following the First World War and the establishment of the League of Nations, the need for codification of international law arose. In September 1924, the General Assembly of the League established a committee of experts for the purpose of codification of international law, which was defined by the Assembly as consisting of two aspects:

• Putting existing customs into written international agreements
• Developing further rules

In 1930 the League of Nations held at the Hague a conference for the purpose of codification of rules on general matters, but very little progress was made.

Following the Second World War, the International Law Commission was established within the United Nations as a permanent body for the formulation of principles in international law.

Papal attempts at codification of the scattered mass of canon law spanned the eight centuries since Gratian produced his Decretum c. 1150.[7] In the 13th century especially canon law became the object of scientific study, and different compilations were made by the Roman Pontiffs. The most important of these were the five books of the Decretales Gregorii IX and the Liber Sextus of Boniface VIII. The legislation grew with time. Some of it became obsolete, and contradictions crept in so that it became difficult in recent times to discover what was of obligation and where to find the law on a particular question.

Hardcover of the 1917 Code of Canon Law

Since the close of the ‘’Corpus Juris’’ numerous new laws and decrees had been issued by popes, councils, and Roman Congregations. No complete collection of them had ever been published and they remained scattered through the ponderous volumes of the ‘’Bullaria’’ the ‘’Acta Sanctae Sedis’’, and other such compilations, which were accessible to only a few and for professional canonists themselves and formed an unwieldy mass of legal material. Moreover, not a few ordinances, whether included in the ‘’Corpus Juris’’ or of more recent date, appeared to be contradictory; some had been formally abrogated, others had become obsolete by long disuse; others, again, had ceased to be useful or applicable in the present condition of society. Great confusion was thus engendered and correct knowledge of the law rendered very difficult even for those who had to enforce it.[8]

When the Vatican Council met in 1869 a number of bishops of different countries petitioned for a new compilation of church law that would be clear and easily studied. The council never finished its work and no attempt was made to bring the legislation up to date. By the 19th Century, this body of legislation included some 10,000 norms. Many of these were difficult to reconcile with one another due to changes in circumstances and practice. In response to the request of the bishops at the First Vatican Council,[9] on 14 May 1904, with the motu proprio Arduum sane munus ("A Truly Arduous Task"), Pope Pius X set up a commission to begin reducing these diverse documents into a single code,[10] presenting the normative portion in the form of systematic short canons shorn of the preliminary considerations[11] ("Whereas...") and omitting those parts that had been superseded by later developments.

By the winter of 1912, the "whole span of the code"[12] had been completed, so that a provisional text was printed.[12] The 1912 text was sent out to all Latin bishops and superiors general for their comment, and their notations which they sent back to the codification commission were subsequently printed and distributed to all members of the commission, in order that the members might carefully consider the suggestions.[12] The new code was completed in 1916.[13] Under the aegis of Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, the Commission for the Codification of Canon Law was completed under Benedict XV, Pius X's successor, who promulgated it on 27 May 1917[14] as the Code of Canon Law (Latin: Codex Iuris Canonici) and set 19 May 1918[14] as the date on which it came into force.[15] In its preparation centuries of material were examined, scrutinized for authenticity by leading experts, and harmonized as much as possible with opposing canons and even other codes, from the Codex of Justinian to the Napoleonic Code. It contained 2,414 canons[16] and was in force until Canon 6 §1 1° of the 1983 Code of Canon Law[17] took legal effect—thereby abrogating it[18]—on 27 November 1983.[19]

Recodification refers to a process where existing codified statutes are reformatted and rewritten into a new codified structure. This is often necessary as, over time, the legislative process of amending statutes and the legal process of construing statutes by nature over time results in a code that contains archaic terms, superseded text, and redundant or conflicting statutes. Due to the size of a typical government code, the legislative process of recodification of a code can often take a decade or longer.