Napoleonic+Wars+-+The+Napoleonic+Code

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media type="custom" key="5110263" [] Before the French revolution France had two different legal sytems. In the north the customary law predominant was followed but in the south the Roman Law was used. Under the ancien régime efforts were made to codify the law that would unify all of France. However no attempts worked. It was Napoleon that had a driving force to codify the law by presiding at fifty-five of the one hundred and seven sessions of the Council of the State. Great gains were achieved including equality before the law, religious toleration, the abolition of privilege and of seigneurial dues. The revolutionary land settlement - the sale of Church and émigré lands - was confirmed, thus placing property owners firmly behind Napoleon. Imposed durring the Napoleonic Empire the code was revised in 1904 but has remained the basis of the French law. It has influenced legal codes in countries such as Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy and several countries outside Europe. //"Code Napoleon." __The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern History 1789-1945.__ London: Penguin, 2001. __History Study Center__. ProQuest LLC. 11 Nov. 2009 [].//

One of Napoleon's greatest achievements was his law code. Though he did not create the code or play a part in its formation, once he focused his attention to putting the code in place there was a new law code. Before Napoleon reformed the law system he had redone the tax system in France. This new tax system brought in a huge amount of money. He had the same sucsess with the new law code. Even though the code was great there were some negitives. Religious views for the most part were taken out. Freedoms for women were limited. Through this however a revised system of the Napoleonic Code still governs over France and has influenced contless other nations and countries throught the world. [|//http://www.napoleonguide.com/codenap.htm//]

The Napoleonic Code is considered the first successful civil legal system. Napoleon I established the Napoleonic code in France in 1804. The Napoleanic code was based on earlier French and Roman Laws and divided the law into the law of persons, property and aquisition of property as Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis did. Before the Napoleonic Code, France did not have a single set of laws but many different laws depending on an area's customs and history. []

Napoleon believed that his greatest achievement was his civil code, the Code Napoleon. The Napoleonic Code improved and reformulated France's ways of dealing with violence, robbery and deceit. The code was made after Napolean had made peace settlements with Austria and Britain. This had given him the time to put towards the code. On August 12, 1800 François Tronchet, Jean Portalis, Félix Bigot de Préameneu and Jacques de Maleville were commissioned to create a new plan for a concordant national code. They finished the preliminary draft which they offered on January 1, 1801, and sent it to the leaders of law courts for criticisms and comments. These were then submitted to napolean and later reviewed by the legislative committee of the Council of State. The code was taking up by the entire Council through 87 sittings, of which Napoleon attended 35.

Durant, Will, and Ariel Durant. //The Age of Napoleon//. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975. Print

In 1800, napoleon appointed a commission of four people to undertake the task of creating the napoleonic code. the napoleonic code assimilated private law in france, which was the law governing the transactions and relationships between individuals. the code is currently in effect in amended form. the code is a revised edition of roman law, or civil law, which predominated in europe, with numerous french modifications, some of which were based on germanic law that had been in affect in northern france. the code draws upon the institutes of the roman corpus Juris Civilis for its categories of the civil law:property rights, such as liscences; the acquisition of property, such as trusts; and personal status, such as legitimacy of birth. napoleon applied this code to the territories he governed. it was extremely influential in spain and, eventually, in latin america as well as in all other european nations except england, where the common law prevailed. the napoleonic code served as the prototype for subsequent codes during the nineteenth century in 24 countries. napoleon also created four other codes: the code of civil procedure, the commercial code, the code of criminal procedure, and the penal code.

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Napoleon in later life considered the Civil Code to be the most significant of his achievements. The Code represented a comprehensive reformation and codification of the French civil laws. Under the //ancien regime// more than 400 codes of laws were in place in various parts of France, with common law predominating in the north and Roman law in the south. The Revolution overturned many of these laws. Napoleon attended in person 36 of the commission's 87 meetings. Although the draft was completed at the end of 1801, the Code was not published until 21 March 1804. The Civil Code represents a typically Napoleonic mix of liberalism and conservatism, although most of the basic revolutionary gains - equality before the law, freedom of religion and the abolition of feudalism - were consolidated within its laws. []

It is impossible to summarize a whole legal system in a few sentences. The Code Napoleon had two basic goals: 1) to give France a single legal system, and 2) to embody the values of the French Revolution in the law of France. Before the Code Napoleon, France had hundreds of different legal codes. Provinces, cities and even hamlets could have their own codes. As its starting point, the Code Napoleon used the Coutume de Paris, which was the legal code of areas that were under the direct rule of the King - like Paris or New France (Canada). The Code Napoleon was based on the values of the European Enlightenment and the French Revolution - values like liberty, brotherhood and equality. []

francois tronchet, jean portalis, felix bigotde preameneu and jacques de maleville were the creators of the civil code. their first draft went through a series of people and judges and was revised. the council had eighty sevven meetings. napoleon attended thirty five of these.

The Napoleonic code is the civil code of France. It was the work of J. J. Cambacérès and a commission of four appointed by Napoleon I in 1800. The Napoleonic Code embodied private laws in France and, after going through many amendments, is still in force in France. the Code Napoleon is a French revision of the Roman Law, which was prominent on the continent. The law code shows many French changes, including some based on Germanic Law that was in effect in Northern France. The code is divided into three parts: personal status, property and the acquisition of property, like the Roman Corpus Juris Civilis. Napoleon's code didn't just affect territory under his control but also other countries in Europe except England and had great influence on Spain. Many law codes today are based off of the Code Napoleon. In addition to the Napoleonic Code, Napoleon I was also responsible for multiple other codes including the Code of Civil Procedure (1807), Commercial Code (1808), Code of Criminal Procedure (1811), and the Penal Code (1811).

"Code Napoléon." __The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition__. 2008. Retrieved November 25, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: []