CID, consolidation and versioning

This concept is transverse to every fond: it explains how Legifrance identifies an article (or a section, or a text) across time, and how modifications propagate.

Source: Official Légifrance API glossary (DILA) — archived copy in raw/legifrance/.

CID — Common Identifier

The CID is the identifier shared by every version of the same object (article, section, text). Where LEGIARTI…, LEGITEXT…, LEGISCTA… designate one specific version, the CID is the thread that links all versions together.

• In LEGI (non-codified texts): the CID of an object created in LEGI is the identifier of its initial version in JORF (e.g. JORFARTI…). If the article was created directly in LEGI (no JORF version), its CID is itself a LEGIARTI….
• In codes (created directly in LEGI): the CID is a LEGITEXT… / LEGISCTA… / LEGIARTI… depending on the object type.

Consolidation

When an article is modified, Legifrance rewrites the article inlining the change — this is the consolidation principle. Every modification, even minor, creates a new version of the article (new LEGIARTI), attached to the same CID.

Consequence for pylegifrance: fetch_version_at(text_id, date) returns the consolidated version that was in force at the given date; fetch_versions returns the full list of successive versions.

Article legal statuses

Code	Abbreviation	Meaning
VIGUEUR	V	article in force as of today
VIGUEUR_AVEC_TERME	VT	in force, but its end date is already scheduled (sometimes called “deferred abrogation”)
VIGUEUR_DIFFEREE	VD	entry into force scheduled for a later date
ABROGE	Ab	no longer in force
ABROGE_DIFF	—	scheduled abrogation (variant of VT)
MODIFIE	—	version superseded by a later one

On the pylegifrance side, these values appear on the Article.legal_status field and on the Code builder’s EtatJuridique filter (see /en/references/code).

”Sweep” provisions (dispositions balai)

A consolidation-specific convention: a text may replace an expression (words, acronyms…) in every in-force text in a single pass. Such changes touch a large number of LEGIARTIs at once — useful to know if you notice a surge of new versions with the same signature date.

See also

• /en/entities/article — where legal_status is exposed.
• /en/concepts/architecture — where versioning fits in the flow.