Code

Code (Lat. codex), a systematised collection of regulations or laws drawn up for convenience of reference, as, for example, a code of signals. The word is specially used to signify a condensed body of laws or procedure. The most famous codes have been those of Theodosius, Justinian, and Napoleon, the last of which is the basis of many modern legal systems, while the former two much mollified the civil law, and through it the English, and especially the Scottish systems. No real effort has yet been made to codify English law. Austin seemed likely to be able to inaugurate one, but, besides the fact that he was a doctrinaire, his health prevented his attempting more than an outline of the way in which it should be done. So England remains almost alone among nations in having no code. Lord Macaulay and Sir James Fitzjames Stephen digested and codified the laws of our Indian Empire.