CODE (codex), a collection of the laws and constitutions of the Roman emperors, made by order of Justinian. The word comes from the Latin codex, a paper book; so called codicibus vel caudicibus arborum, the trunks of trees; the bark of which being stripped off, served the ancients as material for writing upon.
The Code is accounted the second volume of the body of civil law, and contains twelve books; the matter of which is nearly the same with that of the Digest, especially the first eight books; but the style is neither so pure, nor the method so accurate, as that of the Digest; and it determines matters of daily use, whereas the Digest discusses the more abstruse and subtle questions of the law, at the same time giving the opinions of the ancient jurisconsults. Although Justinian's collection is distinguished by the appellation of Code, by way of eminence, yet there were codes before his time: as, first, the Gregorian code and Hermogenian code, being a collection of the Roman laws, made by two famous lawyers, Gregorius and Hermogenes, and including the constitutions of the emperors from Hadrian to Diocletian and Maximinus; and, secondly, the Theodosian code, in sixteen books, formed out of the constitutions of the emperors from Constantine the Great to Theodosius the Younger, and observed almost all over the West, till it was abrogated by the Justinian code. There are several modern systematic collections of laws called codes, the most celebrated of which is the Code Napoleon, framed under the auspices of Bonaparte, not long after he became emperor of the French. See FRANCE and NAPOLEON.