Original Article: "Napoleonic Code" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Code
Napoleonic Code
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Napoleonic Code ‒ or Code Napoléon (the official name being the Code civil des français) ‒ is the French civil code established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs should go to the most qualified.
It was drafted rapidly by a commission of four eminent jurists and entered into force on 21 March 1804. The Code, with its stress on clearly written and accessible law, was a major step in replacing the previous patchwork of feudal laws. Historian Robert Holtman regards it as one of the few documents that have influenced the whole world.
The Napoleonic Code was not the first legal code to be established in a European country with a civil legal system; it was preceded by the Codex Maximilianeus bavaricus civilis (Bavaria, 1756), the Allgemeines Landrecht (Prussia, 1794), and the West Galician Code (Galicia, then part of Austria, 1797). It was, however, the first modern legal code to be adopted with a pan-European scope, and it strongly influenced the law of many of the countries formed during and after the Napoleonic Wars.
History
The categories of the Napoleonic Code were not drawn from earlier French laws, but instead from Justinian's sixth-century codification of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis and, within it, the Institutes. The Institutes divide law into the law of:
persons
things
actions.
Similarly, the Napoleonic Code divided law into law of:
persons
property
acquisition of property
civil procedure (removed into a separate code in 1806).
Napoleonic reforms
Napoleon set out to reform the French legal system in accordance with the ideas of the French Revolution, because the old feudal and royal laws seemed confusing and contradictory to the people.
Before the Code, France did not have a single set of laws; law consisted mainly of local customs, which had sometimes been officially compiled in "customals" (coutumes), notably the Coutume de Paris. There were also exemptions, privileges, and special charters granted by the kings or other feudal lords.
During the Revolution, the last vestiges of feudalism were abolished.
Specifically, as to civil law, the many different bodies of law used in different parts of France were to be replaced by a single legal code. Leading this drafting process was Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès. His drafts of 1793 (for which he had been given a one month deadline), 1794, and 1799, however, were adopted only piecemeal by a National Convention more concerned about the turmoil resulting from the various wars and strife with other European powers.
A fresh start was made after Napoleon came to power in 1799. A commission of four eminent jurists was appointed in 1800, including Louis-Joseph Faure and chaired by Cambacérès (now Second Consul), and sometimes by First Consul Napoleon himself. After intensive scrutiny by the Council of State, by 1801 the Code was complete, but was not published until 21 March 1804. Promulgated as the "Civil Code of the French" (code civil des Français), it was renamed "the Napoleonic Code" (code Napoléon) from 1807 to 1815, and once again under the Second French Empire.
Developed mainly out of the various customals, the process was inspired by Justinian's sixth-century codification of Roman law, the Corpus Iuris Civilis and, within that, Justinian's Code (Codex). The Napoleonic Code, however, differed from Justinian's in important ways: it incorporated all kinds of earlier rules, not only legislation; it was not a collection of edited extracts, but a comprehensive rewrite; its structure was much more rational; it had no religious content; and it was written in the vernacular.
The development of the Napoleonic Code was a fundamental change in the nature of the civil law system, making laws clearer and more accessible. It also superseded the former conflict between royal legislative power and, particularly in the final years before the Revolution, protests by judges representing views and privileges of the social classes to which they belonged. Such conflict led the Revolutionaries to take a negative view of judges making law.
This is reflected in the Napoleonic Code prohibiting judges from deciding a case by way of introducing a general rule (Article 5), since the creation of general rules is an exercise of legislative and not of judicial power. In theory, there is thus no case law in France. However, the courts still had to fill the gaps in the laws and regulations and, indeed, were prohibited from refusing to do so (Article 4). Moreover, both the codes and legislation have required judicial interpretation. In these ways, a vast body of judicially-created law (jurisprudence) has come into existence, and while there is no rule of stare decisis (binding precedent), the decisions by important courts have become more-or-less equivalent to case law (see jurisprudence constante).
