Can versioning of legal documents from many different countries hope to work by just using the name of the document?
<p>A coworker is suggesting to have laws versioned in a system we're building by using the name of the document and the date of change, under the supposition that names of documents will remain the same between versions. This system needs to handle laws from lots of countries, as well as international regulations from organizations like the EU etc. </p>

<p>It is my experience that laws do not keep the same name in all versions for all particular lands, so to implement this would require extra administrative work. I am wondering if anyone can say how prevalent keeping the same name between versions of law is. Or cast light on versioning problems regarding laws from multiple countries. </p>

<p>Names of documents get changed. I'll give some examples of important German laws, other countries may differ.</p>

<ul>
<li>ortographie changes: "Civilprozeßordnung" 1870, today known as "Zivilprozessordnung"</li>
<li>the name of the state changes: "Strafgesetzbuch für das Deutsche Reich" 1871, than known as "Reichstrafgesetzbuch", today "Strafgesetzbuch"</li>
<li>there is a widely used short form: "Gesetz über den Aufenthalt, die Erwerbstätigkeit und die Integration von Ausländern im Bundesgebiet" (2004), known as "Aufenthaltsgesetz" (the name used when it was published: "Gesetz über den Aufenthalt, die Erwerbstätigkeit und die Integration von Ausländern im Bundesgebiet(Aufenthaltsgesetz – AufenthG)", BGBl. 2004 I, 1950)</li>
</ul>

<p>In addition the question of the <em>correct</em> name (and content) of a law can be complicated/disputed. One example of the German lawyer Thomas Fuchs (kind of fanatic researcher on the <em>real</em> texts of law): The "<a href="https://blog.delegibus.com/2015/10/11/mut-zur-haesslichkeit-oder-zehn-gedanken-zur-gewerbeordnung-fuer-das-deutsche-reich-vom-21-juni-1869/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Gewerbeordnung</a>". This law was published 1869 as "Gewerbeordnung für den Nordddeutschen Bund" and renamed 1883 as "Gerwerbeordnung für [das Deutsche Reich]" (with brackets!). Today everyone (including the parliament making amendments) just calls it "Gewerbeordnung".</p>

<p>Things to add: </p>

<ul>
<li>Different laws can have the same name. In the German states this happens often (sometimes the name of the state is in the title, sometimes not). Also Germany and Austria.</li>
<li>Different laws of the same state have the same name. Laws amending other laws often have no creative name, but are called "Gesetz zur Änderung ..." (law to alter ...). These names repeat, so normally you only refer to such laws by date "Gesetz vom ..." (law of ...).</li>
<li>Laws belong to more than one state. E.g. the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allgemeines_Deutsches_Handelsgesetzbuch" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Allgemeines Deutsches Handelsgesetzbuch</a> of 1861 were law in the member states of the Deutscher Bund. It continued to exist when the Deutscher Bund dissolved 1866. In the Deutsches Reich (Germany) it were replaced by the Handelsgesetzbuch (HGB) in 1900. When Germany annexed Austria 1938 it were replaced there too. The (than) Austrian HGB were heavily altered and renamed to Unternehmensgesetzbuch in 2007. In Liechtenstein the ADHGB is still in force. At all times the law was amended, so things get complicated.</li>
</ul>

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