There is a big difference between the common law legal system and the civil law legal system. Common law is the legal system that is based on the opinions of judges or based on the past court decisions. On the other hand, in civil law, the legislature is the one that creates the laws. The laws should be written in ink and should be published first before any one law becomes effective. In civil law, the published laws are arranged according to subject matter. This process is called the codification which is not a usual process in common law.

The process of codification started during the 18th century and originated in the Code of Hammurabi in Babylon. It was further developed to express the natural law and the Enlightenment ideas. This is the reason why some of the political ideas existed, usually a mix of different policies and ideologies.

The entire body of the systematic arrangement of laws or statutes is called the “code.” Codification makes it easy for authorities to find a reference for certain cases. There are times that the codes are revised and sometimes new codes are created. In this instance, the statutes and the laws that are in place prior to the codification will be superseded by the code.