Every civilization has a code of rules.  In some civilizations, the code of rules have a religious context, in other cases, the rules have a civil context.    

The problem is not with those books where the rules are written, it is how they are interpreted.  For example, in the Middle East there are huge divisions between Sunnis and Shiites who both say they follow the same book.   For a civil equivalent, imagine two lawyers fighting over the meaning of the words in a contract - but on a world wide scale.