Code

A code is a standard with a badge. Building codes, fire codes and energy codes set the floor that all construction in a jurisdiction must meet, and they typically work by stating what must be achieved and then referencing standards for the detailed how — which is the practical division of labour between the two words: the code obliges, the standards it cites specify.

Most codes begin life as model documents — the International Building Code is the prominent example — written by a code-development body and then adopted by each jurisdiction, almost always with local amendments and almost never at the newest edition. The operative law is therefore the adopted edition plus the amendments, not the model text, and "code compliance" is meaningless without knowing which combination governs the site.

The word has a second life in the process industries, where documents like the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code are called codes by tradition: technically standards, but so widely adopted into law for pressure equipment that the traditional name tells the truth about their status.