Codification as a Socio-historical Phenomenon

„[C]ette grande monographie parue sous un titre trop modeste, est en réalité un traité d’histoire comparé socio-juridique de la codification, donc un ouvrage d’une actualité poussée dont les juristes occidentaux profiteraient au maximum... Varga a réussi une vraie théorie de l’évolution socio-historique de la codification, théorie authentiquement originaire dans son ensemble.” Ferenc Majoros 'in Revue internationale de Droit comparé 32 (1980) 4, pp. 873–876; “[A]n ambitious endeavor: to give an overview of the history of codifications within the entire framework of legal history made up by human events for over 2000 years... indeed it is amazing how much substance may be poured into so small a form.” Vera Bolgár in The American Journal of Comparative Law 30 (1982) 4, pp. 698–703 „[A]u dela de l’analyse socio-économique du concept ou de l’analyse wéberienne des processus de développement de la codification, on tirera profit d’une série de remarques intéressantes et des différentes grilles de classement qui sont proposées en conclusion. On retiendra par exemple le passage de l’utopie quantitative (tout couvrir) a la vision qualitative (mieux légiférer), le rôle de la rationalisation formelle du droit, la place qui tient la codification dans le contrôle étatique centralisé sur le droit.” Denis Tallon in Revue internationale de Droit comparé 44 (1992) 3, pp. 740–741, “[H]is aim is [...] to examine all phenomena having resembled codification, or having acted as substitutes to it, in an attempt to offer his reader a theory of codification... His insistence on codification-as-form ...is... to be understood in functional terms... Varga’s opinion that there is much historical evidence to suggest that a code derives its real authority from the political power that institutes it is alluring. Through the inherent virtues of the particular form adopted for its self-assertion, suggesting such attractive values as clarity and logic, the political authority would then find itself amplified... But, it is a paradoxical feature of codification that, at the same time as it appears as an instrument serving to consolidate autocratice regimes, it purports to mark a democratization of the law through ensuring direct and equal access to legal information for all. Codification does away with the monopoly of memory... Whether a European codification can (or should) effectively be achieved is not for these pages to consider. What is clear, however, is that anyone interested in the future of codification, and therefore in its many pasts, will do well to read and ponder Varga’s scholarly and insightful contribution to the legal literature in comparative legal history.” Pierre Legrand ‘Strange Power of Words: Codification Situated’ Tulane European & Civil Law Forum 9 (1994), pp. 1–33