The Civil Code of the Republic of Chile (Código Civil de la República de Chile, also referred to as the Code of Bello) is the work of jurist and legislator Andrés Bello. After several years of individual work (though officially presented as the work of multiple Congress commissions), Bello delivered a complete project of the Code on November 22, 1855, which was sent to Congrees by President Manuel Montt, preceded by a foreword by Bello himself. Congress passed the Civil Code into law on December 14, 1855. It then came into force on January 1, 1857. Although it has been the object of numerous alterations, the Code has been kept in force since then.
Traditionally, the Napoleonic Code has been considered the main source of inspiration for the Chilean Code. However, this is true only with regard to the law of obligations and the law of things (except for principle of abstraction), while it is not true at all in the matters of family and successions.
The indisputable main source of the Civil Code is the Siete Partidas (Seven-Part Code) of King Alfonso X, perhaps the pinnacle of Spanish ius commune. For instance, in relating the acquisition of property, the code makes a clear distinction between the titles and the actual acquisition of property, similarly to the Roman Law and the German Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch.
A civil code is a systematic collection of laws designed to comprehensively deal with the core areas of private law such as for dealing with business and negligence lawsuits and practices. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core areas of private law that would otherwise typically be codified in a civil code may instead be codified in a commercial code.
The concept of codification dates back to ancient Babylon. The earliest surviving civil code is the Code of Ur-Nammu, in . 2100–2050 BC. The most famous ancient civil code, however, is the Corpus Juris Civilis, a codification of Roman law produced between 529-534 AD by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, which forms the basis of civil law legal systems.
Other civil codes used since ancient times include various texts used in religious laws, such as the Law of Manu in Hindu law, the Mishnah in Jewish Halakha law, the Canons of the Apostles in Christian Canon law, and the Qur'an and Sunnah in Islamic Sharia law to some extent.
The Civil Code of 1734 (Swedish: 1734 års lag), was passed by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates in 1734, and put in effect after it had been ratified by Frederick I of Sweden 23 January 1736. It became the foundation of the later civil code in Sweden as well as in Finland, which was then a Swedish province, though many alterations has been made since. The current Swedish Code of Statutes is founded on the civil code of 1734.
The Civil Code of 1734 replaced the previous Kristofers landslag (The National Law of Christopher) from 1442, and the Stadslagen (The City Law) from 1347-57. It was the first civil code to apply the same law to all of Sweden. Previously, the Kristofers landslag referred to the Medieval Scandinavian law concerning the country side, which could vary depending on the county, or the Stadslagen concerning the cities. There was a need to establish a civil code and laws applying to all Sweden, both cities and countryside. The work with a national civil code begun during the Swedish Empire in 1686, although its completion was delayed during the Great Northern War. The Civil Code is therefore more influenced by the 17th-century Carolean age rather than the Age of Enlightenment of the Age of liberty of the 1730s. It was translated to the Finnish language in 1738, though not published in it until 1759.
The Civil Code of the Philippines is the product of the codification of private law in the Philippines. It is the general law that governs family and property relations in the Philippines. It was enacted in 1950, and remains in force to date despite some significant amendments.
The Philippine Civil Code is strongly influenced by the Spanish Código Civil, which was first enforced in 1889 within the Philippines, then a colony of the Kingdom of Spain. The Código Civil remained in effect even throughout the American Occupation, however by 1940 the Commonwealth Government of President Manuel Luis Quezón, (Manuel Luís Quezon) formed a Commission tasked with drafting a new Civil Code. The Commission was initially headed by Chief Justice Ramón Avanceña, but its work was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and the Second World War, while its records were destroyed during the Battle of Manila in 1945.
In 1947, President Manuel Acuña Roxas of the Third Republic created a new Code Commission, this time headed by the former Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law, Jorge Bocobo. Among the members of this new Commission were future Supreme Court Associate Justice Francisco R. Capistrano, and future Vice-President Arturo Tolentino. The Code Commission completed the final draft of the new Civil Code by December 1947, and this was submitted to Congress, which enacted it into law through Republic Act No. 386. The Civil Code took effect in 1950.