The Napoleonic Code was one of Napoleon's greatest achievements. It established a single set of laws for France to replace the previous patchwork of local customs, privileges, and exemptions. The Code clarified and standardized French law, spreading influence across much of Europe as French rule expanded under Napoleon. It emphasized equality before the law while also restricting some individual rights. The Code remains influential in the legal systems of many European and Latin American countries today.

1. English for Law
The Napoleonic Code
University lector: Ina Voloșciuc
Realised by: Mihai Ursu
Vladalina Verlan

2. – Napoleon Bonaparte
“My glory is not that I won forty battles and dictated the law to kings…
Waterloo wipes out the memory of all my victories… But what will be wiped
out by nothing and will live forever is my Civil Code.”

3. Key Points

4. Napoleon set out to reform the French legal system in accordance with the ideas of the
French Revolution. Before the Napoleonic Code, France did not have a single set of
laws. Law consisted mainly of local customs, which had sometimes been officially
compiled in “customals.” There were also exemptions, privileges, and special charters
granted by the kings or other feudal lords.

5. The Code was complete by 1801 but not published until 1804.Napoleon participated
actively in the sessions of the Council of State that revised the drafts of the new civil
code. The development of the code was a fundamental change in the nature of the civil
law legal system as it stressed clearly written and accessible law. Other codes were
commissioned by Napoleon to codify criminal and commerce law.

6. Praised for its clarity, the Code spread rapidly throughout Europe and the world and
marked the end of feudalism and the liberation of serfs where it took effect. The Code
recognized the principles of civil liberty, equality before the law (although not for
women in the same sense as for men), and the secular character of the state.

7. • Although the Napoleonic Code was not the first civil code and did not represent the
whole of Napoleon’s empire, it was one of the most influential. It was adopted in
many countries occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars. It formed the
basis of the law systems across most of continental Europe and has had a lasting
impact on civil law codes in other regions of the world, including the Middle East
where it has been combined with the Islamic law.
• 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.

8. Napoleon is showing his wife, the
Queen, the Civil Code he just wrote.

9. Yhe Need for Codified Laws
France in the century before the French Revolution may have been a single country, but it
was far from a homogenous unit. As well as language and economic differences, there was
no single unified set of laws that covered the whole of France. Instead, there were large
geographic variations, from the Roman Law which dominated in the south, to a
Frankish/Germanic Customary Law which dominated in the north around Paris. Add to
this the canon law of the church which controlled some affairs, a mass of royal legislation
which had to be considered when looking at legal problems, and the effects of local laws
derived from "parlements" or appellate courts and trials, and there was a patchwork which
was very difficult to negotiate, and which stimulated a demand for a universal, equitable
set of laws. However, there were plenty of people in positions of local power, often in
venal offices, who worked to prevent any such codification, and all attempts to do so
before the revolution failed.

10. The Napoleonic Code - 1804
The Napoleonic Code, also known as the French civil code was established under
Napoléon I in 1804. This code was an attempt to abolish feudalism because they
thought that it was contradictory and confusing and also privileges or exemptions were
only granted by the king or feudal lords. but this code also introduced a concept of
universal set of laws since France did not have a single unified set of laws. The south of
France was dominated by Roman law and the north was dominated by common law.
Also, canon law of the church had some control over various affairs and laws differed
from town to town and were not always rational. During this period, many French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars occurred and resulted in a time where France
dominated over most of Europe. Due to this, the relevant culture during this time was
French culture.

11. The first book of the code deals with the law of persons: the enjoyment of civil rights,
the protection of personality, domicile, guardianship, tutorship, relations of parents and
children, marriage, personal relations of spouses, and the dissolution of marriage
by annulment or divorce. The code subordinated women to their fathers and husbands,
who controlled all family property, determined the fate of children, and were favoured
in divorce proceedings. Many of those provisions were reformed only in the second
half of the 20th century. The second book deals with the law of things: the regulation
of property rights—ownership, usufruct, and servitudes. The third book deals with the
methods of acquiring rights: by succession, donation, marriage settlement, and
obligations. In the last chapters, the code regulates a number of nominate contracts,
legal and conventional mortgages, limitations of actions, and prescriptions of rights.

12. Influence
The code was originally introduced into areas under French control in 1804:
Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of western Germany, northwestern Italy, Geneva, and Monaco.
It was later introduced into territories conquered by Napoleon: Italy, the Netherlands,
the Hanseatic lands, and much of the remainder of western Germany and Switzerland. The
code is still in use in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Monaco.
The influence of the Napoleonic Code was diminished at the turn of the century by the
introduction of the German Civil Code (1900) and the Swiss Civil Code (1912); the former
was adopted by Japan and the latter by Turkey. In the 20th century, codes
in Brazil, Mexico, Greece, and Peru were products of a comparative method, with ideas
borrowed from the German, French, and Swiss traditions.

13. Significance And Lasting Impact
Although the Napoleonic Code was not the first civil code and did not represent the
whole of Napoleon’s empire, it was one of the most influential. It was adopted in many
countries occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars and thus formed the
basis of the law systems of Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal (and their
former colonies), and Poland (1808–1946).
Thus, the civil law systems of the countries of modern continental Europe, with the
exception of Russia and the Scandinavian countries have, to different degrees, been
influenced by the Napoleonic Code. In the United States, whose legal system is largely
based on English common law, the state of Louisiana is unique in having a strong
influence from the Napoleonic Code and Spanish legal traditions on its civil code.

14. The impact
There were many things Napoleon considered a great triumph but there is one that is the greatest
and this is called the Napoleonic Code. The Napoleonic Code did a lot of good for the French,
the first good thing this code did for the French was it gave the country a set in stone, set of laws
and it also eliminated any injustices. But this actually promoted order and authority over
individual rights. An example of this is the freedom of speech, and press which was established
during the revolution. This made it restricted under the code. Another good but bad thing was
that the Napoleonic Code brought back slavery into the French colonies that were part of the
Caribbean. There are many reasons Napoleon decided to change the current feudal system of
laws and royal laws. Before the Napoleonic Code, there was no “Law” for the French to follow,
and the royal and rich were very much treated better and had more privileges so during the
revolution Napoleon decided that it would be the best to do away with the feudal laws. This was
the set of laws he would use, and some of these laws are still in place, in France today.