I have a lot of respect for Joe Celko. However, I bend the rules sometimes. And look-up tables are precisely where I bend the rules, and the resulting CODES table, being used for the past four years, has stayed at 105 rows, has 14 types of codes, and has rarely changed. Its holds things like hearing types, action types, court types, plea types, legislation types, jurisdiction types, and the like (you've guessed it - it is an application to take care of legal processes). Each one to his taste, I suppose.