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Napoleon's Civil Code (Whilst much of the code was concerned with…
Napoleon's Civil Code
“My glory is not to have won forty battles, for Waterloo’s defeat will destroy the memory of as many victories. But what nothing will destroy, what will eternally live is my Civil Code”
- Codification of law not only helped to standardise law by creating a written and accessible record, but also provided an opportunity for defining the law after all the revolutionary upheaval
- A committee of legal experts, under the supervision of Cambaceres, the Second Consul, was established in 1800 to establish a French civil law code.
- Two lawyers were chosen to represent northern France which had traditionally used customary law at the basis for judgements. Two came from the south, where Roman law had been applied. A draft civil law code was presented in 1800
- Napoleon keenly participated in the sessions of the Council of State that revised the drafts, showing a particular interest in the clauses relating to women's rights.
- In March 1804, the Code Civil des Francais was finally issued. In September 1807, it was renamed the 'Code Napoleon'. It confirmed the key revolutionary changes
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Whilst much of the code was concerned with property law, the most controversial areas concerned the re-establishment of male rights, clauses which showed a strong influence of Roman law
- The father/husband was confirmed as head of the family
- Children were subordinate to their father until marriage and could be imprisoned by him for deficiencies in behaviour
- Until sons were 25 and daughters 21, they had to have their father's permission to marry
- Divorce was permitted (although complex) and although a husband could divorce his wife for adultery, the wife could only do so if her husband committed adultery in the family home
- Female rights of inheritance were restricted
- An unmarried woman could not as a guardian or witness a legal document
- Legitimate children could not be disinherited and at least 75% of property had to be equally dispersed between all legitimate offspring. This system, known as partage, had been introduced by the revolution to replace the Ancien Regime practice of primogeniture, through which the eldest son inherited the father's property (unless provision was made otherwise)
Four further codes were commissioned by Napoleon which similarly combined some of the changes brought about by the revolution with more traditional practices, in a mixture of egalitarianism and authoritarianism
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1807: A commercial code provided guidelines for trade and business, including debt and bankruptcy
1808: A code on criminal procedure maintained the practice of trial by jury, although Napoleon was not personally keen on this 'English' practice, and the jury d'accusation - the first of the double jury system - disappeared in 1811. In special courts, juries would be selected by prefects. This code permitted arrest without trial, although with certain provisos
1810: a new penal code laid down guidelines for punishments. It included the death penalty for murder, arson and forgery and the loss of the right hand, before execution, for a parricide. Other crimes could incur hard labour and branding. However, it did establish maximum and minimum penalties, rather than the fixed penalties of the Ancien Regime
Family
- Allowed all sons to become property owners - permitted one child to inherit a larger share of the property than other heirs, overruling the Revolutionary law that required an equal division of property among heirs
- confirmed the secularisation of marriage
- Divorce was permitted, but only on three grounds - ill treatment, criminal conviction and adultery
- strengthened the patriarchal structure of the family - N believed that disciplined families and obedience to the father would extend to the political sphere and strengthen the head of state, and consolidate law and order.
- Father was the head of the family and controlled family's property
- Article 213 "the woman owes obedience to her husband"
- The Civil Code had immense influence and attraction outside France
- Napoleon used the code as a tool of domination and ordered its introduction in his satellite states
- it aided in rallying the local propertied classes to Napoleonic rule and helped to spread revolutionary ideas throughout Europe
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- The Code has been praised as the most impressive of all the legislative measures carried out by Napoleon
- It was in many ways illiberal and restrictive in outlook, even by the standards of the day
- Individual male rights to ownership of property were maintained and the civil rights of Frenchmen were assured, but married women fared badly under its double standards. A man had total authority over his wife and family and divorce was made very difficult and expensive to obtain
- There was lack of liberty too, in the treatment of black people and workers. Slavery was reintroduced in the French colonies 'in accordance with the laws current in 1789' and workmen were made subject to close police supervision through use of the livret - a combined work permit and employment record, without which it was impossible legally to obtain a job
- The Code gave legal sanction to some of the important developments of the 1790s - confirming the abolition of feudalism, and giving fixed legal title to those who had earlier purchased confiscated church, crown and emigre property
- It also followed the Revolutionary principle of partage - equal division of estates among male heirs instead of primogeniture (where eldest son inherited everything)