[OJFord]

IANAL, but I know that (in the UK and other common law countries) it very literally is not. France on the other hand does (in some cases / levels of law? I'm sure I've nerd-sniped someone into explaining properly already) try to codify (not literally computer code, but it's maybe a useful analogy, declarative code anyway) all law.

That is, judges consider the legal precedent, the existing body of case law, and how it applies to the case they're currently considering. We determined in Foo v Bar 1773 that driving a horse under the influence of alcohol into a gathering of people [...] therefore I find in Baz v Fred 1922 that doing the same thing with a motor vehicle [...]. That sort of thing.

[NoboruWataya]

Probably not the nerd snipe you were hoping for but a huge amount of law is now codified in common law jurisdictions, too. Judges don't make law in the same way that they used to. They may have somewhat more flexibility to interpret legislation than their civil law counterparts. But the prohibition on driving a horse under the influence into a gathering of people is almost certainly set out in legislation these days, and not (primarily) an old judicial precedent.

(That said, the "code" that results from such "codification" is still very much intended to be understood and interpreted by humans.)

[ljm]

This guy never left the US.