Codification in the Common Law

Abstract

Codification is generally thought of as a feature of modern legal systems in the civil law world. However, codification is also used by common law systems, although there is a real question whether the form of ‘codification’ employed by common law legislators is comparable to the codification employed by civil law legislators. The focus of the discussion here will be on the role of codification in English private law, in particular contract law, where codification has been explored in the modern era, but abandoned. There may, however, still be a role for the intervention of codifying legislation to solve some of the problems faced within the general rules of English contract law.