Editing Civil code (section)

===European codes and influences on other continents===
[[File:Swiss civil code 1907.jpg|thumb|The first edition of the [[Swiss Civil Code]] (around 1907). In 1911, it became the first civil code to include commercial law ([[Swiss Code of Obligations]]).<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Frédéric Koller, [https://www.letemps.ch/monde/2016/09/13/suisse-inspire-modernisation-droit-chinois "Quand la Suisse inspire la modernisation du droit chinois"], ''[[Le temps]]'', Tuesday 13 September 2016 (page visited on 14 September 2016).</ref>]]

The idea of codification re-emerged during the [[Age of Enlightenment]], when it was believed that all spheres of life could be dealt with in a conclusive system based on human [[rationality]], following from the experience of the early codifications of [[Roman Law]] during the [[Roman Empire]].

The first attempts at modern codification were made in the second half of the 18th century in [[Germany]], when the states of [[Austria]], [[Prussia]], [[Bavaria]] and [[Saxony]] began to codify their laws. The first statute that used this denomination was the ''[[Codex Maximilianeus bavaricus civilis]]'' of 1756 in Bavaria, still using the Latin language. It was followed in 1792 by a legal compilation that included civil, penal, and constitutional law, the ''[[General state laws for the Prussian states|Allgemeines Landrecht für die Preussischen Staaten]]'' (General National Law for the Prussian States) promulgated by King [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick II the Great]]. In Austria, the first step towards fully-fledged codification were the yet incomplete [[Codex Theresianus]] (compiled between 1753 and 1766), the [[Josephinian Code]] (1787) and the complete [[West Galician Code]] (enacted as a test in [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]] in 1797). The final [[Austrian Civil Code]] (called ''Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'', ABGB) was only completed in 1811 after the dissolution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] under the influence of the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. One of the first countries to follow up through [[legal transplants]] in codification was [[Serbia]], the [[Serbian civil law|Serbian Civil Code]] (1844).

Meanwhile, the [[France|French]] [[Napoleonic code]] (''Code Civil'') was enacted in 1804 after only a few years of preparation, but it was a child of the [[French Revolution]], which is strongly reflected by its content. The French code was the most influential one because it was introduced in many countries standing under French occupation during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. In particular, countries such as [[Italy]], the [[Benelux]] countries, [[Spain]], [[Portugal]] (with the Civil Code of 1867, later replaced by the Civil Code of 1966, which is strongly influenced by the German BGB), the [[Latin America]]n countries, the province of [[Quebec]] in [[Canada]], and all other former French colonies which base their civil law systems to a strong extent on the Napoleonic Code. It is a misconception that the state of [[Louisiana]] in the [[United States]] based their civil code on the Napoleonic code. Rather, the drafters of the code were instructed to write a civil code based on the current laws, and the laws that were in effect at the time were Spanish laws based on [[Las Siete Partidas]].<ref>Alain A. Levasseur, The Major Periods of Louisiana Legal History, 41 Lov. L. REV. 585 (1996).</ref>

The late 19th century and the beginning 20th century saw the emergence of the School of [[Pandects|Pandectism]], whose work peaked in the [[Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch|German Civil Code]] (BGB), which was enacted in 1900 in the course of Germany's national unification project, and in the [[Swiss Civil Code]] (''Zivilgesetzbuch'') of 1907. Those two codes had been most advanced in their systematic structure and classification from fundamental and general principles to specific areas of law (e.g. contract law, labour law, inheritance law). While the French Civil Code was structured in a "casuistic" approach attempting to regulate every possible case, the German BGB and the later Swiss ZGB applied a more abstract and systematic approach. Therefore, the BGB had a great deal of influence on later codification projects in countries as diverse as [[Japan]], [[Greece]], [[Turkey]], Portugal (1966 Civil Code) and [[Macau]] (1999 Civil Code).

Since 2002 with the First law of the Civil Code of Catalonia, Parliament of Catalonia's several laws have approved the successive books of the [[Civil Code of Catalonia]]. This has replaced most of the Compilation of the Civil Law of Catalonia, several special laws and two partial codes. Only the Sixth book, relating to obligations and contracts, has to be approved.

In Europe, apart from the [[common law]] countries of the United Kingdom and Ireland, only [[Scandinavia]] remained untouched by the codification movement. The particular tradition of the civil code originally enacted in a country is often thought to have a lasting influence on the methodology employed in legal interpretation. Scholars of [[comparative law]] and economists promoting the [[legal origins theory]] of (financial) development usually subdivide the countries of the [[civil law tradition]] as belonging either to the French, Scandinavian or German group (the latter including [[Germany]], [[Austria]], [[Switzerland]], [[Liechtenstein]], [[Japan]], [[China]], [[Taiwan]], [[South Korea]] and [[Ukraine]]).
{{see also|European civil code}}