law code
Codified legal rules
A law code is a systematic collection of laws organized into a single, unified document.
Ancient examples include Hammurabi's Code and the Justinian Code.
Modern law codes compile statutes by subject—criminal codes, civil codes, tax codes—making legal rules accessible and searchable: The state revised its penal code last year.
- HammurabiAncient Babylonian king-legislator
- stone tabletInscribed flat rock
- JusticeFormal address for judges
- Magna CartaCharter curbing royal authority
- legal systemStructure governing justice
Twelve Tables · decree · statutes · Sharia · regulations · Sovereignty · tablet · edict · ordinance · commandment · mandate · binding · ancient · amendment · constitution · legal · rules · penalty
- Roman LawCorpus Juris Civilis, Twelve Tables, Digest, Paul, Julian
- Indian Polityraja, maharaja, kingdom, panchayat, mansabdar
- rulesrule, guideline, bylaw, standard, norm
- BabylonBabylon, Nebuchadnezzar, Hammurabi, Marduk, ziggurat
- Bible elementsparable, psalm, epistle, proverb, commandment
- legal codescodes, statute, statutes, codified laws, codification
law codecustom
Habitual group practice
unwritten law · oral tradition · social convention · tradition · folkways
law codeanarchy
Disorder from absent authority
lawlessness · chaos · disorder · legal vacuum · anomie
law codenatural law
Inherent moral principles
divine law · moral law · religious commandments · conscience · canon law