CODE, CODES
4.7.17
CODES, Les Cing Codes; French law. The five codes.
2.
These codes are, 1st. Code Civil, which is divided into three books;
book 1, treats of persons, and of the enjoyment and privation of civil
rights; book 2, of property and its different modifications; book 3, of
the different ways of acquiring property. One of the most perspicuous
and able, commentators on this code is Toullier, frequently citedin this
work.
3.
- 2d. Code de procedure civille, which is divided into two parts. Part
1, is divided into five books; 1. of justices of the. peace; 2. of
inferior tribunals; 3. of royal courts; 4. of extraordinary means of
proceeding; 5. of execution and judgment. Part 2, is divided into three
books; 1. of tender and consignation; 2. of process in relation to the
opening of a succession; 3. of arbitration.
4.
- 3d. Code de Commerce, in four books; 1. of commerce in general; 2. of
maritime comraerce; 3. of failures and bankruptcy; 4. of commercial
jurisdiction. Pardessus is one of the ablest commentators on this code.
5.
- 4th. Code d'Instructions Criminelle, in two books; 1. of judiciary
police, and its officers; 2. of the administration of justice.
6.-5th.
Code Penal, in four books; 1. of punishment in criminal and
correctional cases, and their effects; 2. of the persons punishable,
excusable or responsible, for their crimes or misdemeanors; 3. of
crimes, misdemeanors, (delits,) and their punishment; 4. of
contraventions of police, and their punishment. For the history of these
codes, vide Merl. Rep. h. t.; Motifs, Rapports, Opinions et Discours
sur les Codes; Encyclop. Amer. h. t.
7.
Henrion de Pansey, late a president of the Court of Cassation, remarks
in reference to these codes: "In the midst of the innovations of these
later times, a system of uniformity has suddenly engrossed all minds,
and we have had imposed upon us the same weights, the same measures, the
same laws, civil, criminal, rural and commercial. These new codes, like
everything which comes from the hand of man, have imperfections and
obscurities. The administration of them is committed to nearly thirty
sovereign courts and a multitude of petty tribunals, composed of only
three judges, and yet are invested with the right of determining in the
last resort, under many circumstances. Each tribunal, the natural
interpreter of these laws, applies them according to its own view, and
the new codes were scarcely in operation before this beautiful system of
uniformity became nothing more than a vain theory. Authorite
Judiciaire, c. 31, s. 10.
CODE HENRI.
A digest of the laws of Hayti, enacted by Henri, king of Hayti. It is
based upon the Code Napoleon, but not servilely copied. It is said to be
judiciously adapted to the situation of Hayti. A collection of laws
made by order of Henry III of France, is also known by the name of Code
Henri.
CODE, JUSTINIAN,
civil law. A collection of the constitutions of the emperors, from
Adrian to Justinian; the greater part of those from Adrian to
Constantine are mere rescripts; those from Constantine to Justinian are
edicts or laws, properly speaking.
2.
The code is divided into twelve books, which are subdivided into
titles, in which the constitutions are collected under proper heads.
They are placed in chronological order, but often disjointed. At the
head of each constitution is placed the name of the emperor who is the
author, and that of the person to whom it is addressed. The date is at
the end. Several of these constitutions, which were formerly in the code
were lost, it is supposed by the neglect of "copyists. Some of them
have been restored by modern authors, among whom may be mentioned
Charondas, Cugas, and Contius, who translated them from Greek, versions.
CODE, OF LOUISIANA.
In 1822, Peter Derbigny, Edward Livingston, and Moreau Lislet, were
selected by the legislature to revise and amend the civil code, and to
add to it sucb laws still in force as were not included therein. They
were authorized to add a system of commercial law, and a code of
practice. The code they prepared having been adopted, was promulgated in
1824, under the title of the " Civil Code of the State of Louisiana."
2.
The code is based on the Code Napoleon, with proper and judicious
modifications, suitable for the state of Louisiana. It is composed of
three books: 1. the first treats of persons; 2. the second of tbings,
and of the different modifications of property; 3. and the third of the
different modes of acquiring the property of tbings. It contains 3522
articles, numbered from the beginning, for the convenience of reference.
3.
This code, it is said, contains many inaccurate definitions. The
legislature modified and changed many of the provisions relating to the
positive legislation, but adopted the definitions and abstract doctrines
of the code without material alterations. From this circumstance, as
well as from the inherent difficulty of the subject, the positive
provisions of the code are often at variance with the theoretical part,
which was intended to elucidate them. 13 L. R. 237.
4.
This code went into operation on the 20th day of May,. 1825. 11 L. R.
60. It is in both the French and English languages; and in construing
it, it is a rule that when the expressions used in the French text of
the code are more comprehensive than those used in English, or vice
versa, the more enlarged sense will be taken, as thus full effect will
be given to both clauses. 2 N. S. 582.
CODE, NAPOLEON.
The Code Civil of France, enacted into law during the reign of
Napoleon, bore his name until the restoration of the Bourbons when it
was deprived of that name, and it is now cited Code Civil.
CODE PAPIRIAN.
The name of a collection of the Roman laws, promulgated by Romulus,
Numa, and other kings who governed. Rome till the time of Tarquin, the
Proud. It was so called in honor if Sextus Parrius, the compiler. Dig.
1, 2, 2.
CODE PRUSSIAN.
Allgemeines Landrecht. This code is also known by the name of Codex
Fredericianus, or Frederician code. It was compiled by order of Frederic
H., by the minister of justice, Samuel V. Cocceji, who completed, a
part of it before his death, in 1755. In 1780, the work was renewed
under the superintendence of the minister Von Carmer, and prosecuted
with unceasing activity and was published from 1784 to 1788, in six
parts. The opinions of those who understood the subject were requested,
and prizes offered on the best commentaries on it; and the whole was
completed in June, 1791, under the title " General Prussian Code."
CODE THEODOSIAN.
This code, which originated in the eastern empire, was adopted in the
Western empire towards its decline. It is a collection of the
legislation of the Christian emperors, from and including Constantine to
Theodosius, the Younger; it is composed of sixteen books, the edicts,
acts, rescripts, and ordinances of the two empires, that of the east and
that of the west.
