International Code of Zoological Nomenclature

Working knowledge of the Code — 4th edition, adopted by the International Union of Biological Sciences, in force since 1 January 2000, as amended.

What this skill is. An operational synthesis of all 90 Articles, the Glossary and the Appendices, written rule by rule with the citation attached, plus the data-modelling consequences that follow from them. The Code's text is copyrighted (© International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature 1999) and is not reproduced here; the rules are restated in our own words and every one of them points at the Article it comes from.

Its standing. None. Art. 87 gives equal force to the English and French texts of the Code and to no other version, so a synthesis — this one included — settles nothing in a dispute. Cite the Article, and when the exact wording decides the case, fetch it:

python scripts/fetch_article.py 23.9        # the letter of the law, from the source