The article presents the person of Saint John Paul II as a supreme legislator and sole Pontiff in the history of the Church that had promulgated an entire universal legislation of the Catholic Church, that is: the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church in 1983 and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches in 1990. The laws promulgated by the Pontiff posses two distinct motifs: an anthropologically-personalistic one and an ecclesiological one. The Pope had not only promulgated the texts of the Codes, but what is more, he provided a personal contribution into the content of the law. Albeit, not a canonist himself, he nevertheless in cooperation with various groups of experts, had carefully analyzed the projects prior to their promulgation. What is an important aspect of the codes of John Paul II is their concordance and continuity with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, therefore it is possible and appropriate to call them the final.

Key words: John Paul II, code, council, canon law