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The "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature" is the system of rules and recommendations designed to promote stability and universality in the scientific names of animals. It ensures that the name of each taxon is unique and distinct. Precision and consistency are essential in a code of nomenclature and the meanings of terms used in the Code are given in a detailed glossary. The code is published in both English and French in one volume. From the Preface to the fourth edition: 'The conventional Linnean hierarchy will not be able to survive alone: it will have to coexist with the ideas and terminology of phylogenetic (cladistic) systematics. From a cladistic perspective, our traditional nomenclature is often perceived as too prescriptive and too permissive at the same time. Too prescriptive, in so far as it forces all taxa (and their names) to fit into the arbitrary ranks of the hierarchy; too permissive, in so far as it may be equally applied to paraphyletic as to monophyletic groups. New proposals are therefore to be expected. But even in the perspective of new developments, we believe that it will never be possible or desirable to dispose of 250 years of Linnaean zoological (and botanical) taxonomy and nomenclature'.
