Codification organizes laws into logical groups, making it easier to search for specific areas of the law. Session laws provide a historical record but can be difficult to navigate. Codification is a continuous process that involves grouping laws into chapters and titles, and periodically removing outdated laws. Legal scholars and researchers participate in codification, and electronic legal databases are becoming more popular.
Codification is a process in which laws are organized in a logical way. Governments continually add to the law and amend existing laws. This means that viewing laws purely chronologically could quickly become daunting, especially in countries with very old legal systems. Codification allows laws to be brought together into groups that can be bound into a code or law book, making it easier for people to search for specific areas of the law because similar laws are grouped together. The process of codification is continuous and can also be accompanied by re-coding, which is periodically necessary to clean up existing legal codes.
One way to present laws is in the form of session laws, which are arranged in chronological order. In fact, most governments maintain session laws because they provide an important record of when legal changes were made and can be invaluable historical documents for people interested in studying the history of the legislature and the law. However, looking for specific areas of law in session laws can be a nightmarish task when laws and their amendments can be separated by considerable time and other laws affecting them can be scattered elsewhere in the text.
So, most governments also code. When laws are codified, they are grouped into specific chapters, titles, and so on within the law so that they can be found, and any changes and amendments to the law are attached directly to it in the code during the codification process. In recoding, redundant, outdated, and erroneous laws are erased from the books so that the code contains a clear, cohesive set of laws that don’t contradict each other.
The encoding process can take a long time. Usually when new laws are proposed, the legislator notes the area of the code in which they must be inserted so that once approved, they can be easily codified. Likewise, the new jurisprudence also refers to the areas of the code concerned so that it can be codified and cross referenced. As law books are continually updated with changes and new laws, they also need to be reprinted regularly so that people have access to the latest legal standards and statutes.
Legal scholars participate in codification, as do people who do research for lawmakers to help them determine where new laws need to be inserted. Many governments have created electronic legal databases that give people access to the latest version of the law, and these databases are an increasingly popular alternative to costly physical codes that need to be replaced on a regular basis.
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