Obsession About codes

‘Are we progressing or regressing?’ my son asked interrupting my study of the Direct Tax code news printed in the front page of the newspaper. ‘For more than 50 years we had a decent name for the Income Tax – ACT which is another word for a statute’ he opened his topic of query. I was thankful that he was not directing my thoughts from the main topic of the day and next few days. ‘What precisely ails you?’ I asked now knowing how deep I was to go. ‘Does not code mean that it has to be de-coded before understanding?’ he asked. ‘Humm’ I pondered, ‘I suppose you are right because all our emailed encrypted or coded files have to be de-crypted to be read by the receiver, so that is the standard procedure.’ ‘Then why is a statute called a code?’ he asked in all innocence. My knee jerk reaction perhaps painted the truth as I replied, ‘For all these years, all of us-Accountants and Lawyers were busy trying to interpret the Act by fighting our opinion in the Tribunal of Income Tax or Courts. So perhaps the Lawmakers decided to recognize that the ir communication is in fact a code!’ I quickly looked around to see if anyone was listening, as I realized only after the words were out of my mouth, what they actually implied.

That made me muse about where else the word code could be aptly applied.