The legal code was a common feature of the legal systems of the ancient Middle East. Tablets discovered in the ancient city of
Ebla (Tell Mardikh in modern-day
Syria) provide the earliest known evidence of a law code, dating back to 2400 BC. In addition, The UrukAgina Law Code (2380–2360 BC), the
Sumerian
Code of Ur-Nammu (–2050 BC),
the Code of Eshnunna (approximately 100 years before Lipit-Ishtar), the
Code of Lipit-Ishtar (1934–1924 BC), and the
Babylonian
Code of Hammurabi (), are among the earliest and best preserved legal codes, originating from
Sumer,
Mesopotamia (now
Iraq). In the
Roman Empire, a number of codes were developed, such as the
Twelve Tables of Roman law (first compiled in 450 BC) and the
Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, also known as the Justinian Code (429–534 AD). However, these law codes did not exhaustively describe the Roman legal system. The Twelve Tables were limited in scope, and most legal doctrines were developed by the
pontifices, who interpreted the tables to deal with situations far beyond what is contained therein. The Justinian Code collected together existing legal material at the time. In ancient
China, the first comprehensive criminal code was the
Tang Code, created in 624 AD in the
Tang dynasty. This, and subsequent imperial codes, formed the basis for the penal system of both China and other East Asian states under its cultural influence. The last and best preserved imperial code is the
Great Qing Legal Code, created in 1644 upon the founding of the
Qing dynasty. This code was the exclusive and exhaustive statement of Chinese law between 1644 and 1912. Though it was in form a criminal code, large parts of the code dealt with civil law matters and the settlement of civil disputes. The code ceased its operation upon the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, but significant provisions remained in operation in
Hong Kong until well into the 1970s due to a peculiar interaction between it and the
British common law system. In Europe,
Roman law, especially the
Corpus Juris Civilis, became the basis of the legal systems of many countries. Roman law was either adopted by legislation (becoming
positive law), or through processing by jurists. The accepted Roman law is usually then codified and forms part of the central Code. The codification movement gathered pace after the rise of
nation-states after the
Treaty of Westphalia. Prominent national
civil codes include the
French Napoleonic Code (code civil) of 1804, the
Austrian civil code (
Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) of 1812, the
German civil code (
Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) of 1900 and the
Swiss codes. The European codifications of the 1800s influenced the
codification of
Catholic canon law resulting in the
1917 Code of Canon Law which was replaced by the
1983 Code of Canon Law and whose Eastern counterpart is the
Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. Meanwhile,
African civilizations developed their own legal traditions, sometimes codifying them through consistent oral tradition, as illustrated e.g. by the
Kouroukan Fouga, a
charter proclaimed by the
Mali Empire in 1222–1236, enumerating regulations in both constitutional and civil matters, and transmitted to this day by
griots under oath. The Continental civil law tradition spread around the world along with European cultural and military dominance in recent centuries. During the
Meiji Restoration,
Japan adopted a new
Civil Code (1898), based primarily on the French civil code and influenced by the German code. After the
Xinhai Revolution of 1911 in China, the new
Republic of China government abandoned the imperial code tradition and instead adopted a new
civil code strongly influenced by the German
Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, and also influenced by the Japanese code. This new tradition has been largely maintained in the legal system of the
People's Republic of China since 1949. Meanwhile, codifications also became more common in
common law systems. For example, a
criminal code is found in a number of common law jurisdictions in
Australia and the
Americas, and continues to be debated in
England. In the Americas, the influence of Continental legal codes has manifested itself in two ways. In civil law jurisdictions, legal codes in the Continental tradition are common. In common law jurisdictions, however, there has been a strong trend towards codification. The result of such codification, however, is not always a legal code as found in civil law jurisdictions. For example, the
California Civil Code largely codifies common law doctrine and is very different in form and content from all other civil codes. == Civil code ==