What was Napoleonic code?

Answer 1

Before the Napoleonic Code, each locality in France had their own laws, which could be very different from surrounding areas. This made life confusing. The most significant aspect of the Napoleonic Code is that it set uniform laws for all of France. It primarily abolished the three estates from the Old Regime and granted equal rights before the law to people of all classes. Unfortunately women could not hold property and Napoleon could overrule any law.

The Napoleonic Code, or Code Napoléon (originally called the Code civil des Français) was the French civil code, established under Napoléon I (Napoleon Bonaparte), and its use began on March 21, 1804. It is considered one of the first successful codifications of common laws in Europe, and is still the basis of the French legal system, as well as that of the US state of Louisiana.

Napoleon I set out to reform the French legal code. He collected the mish MASH of existing civil law in France and appointed a panel of four judges to codify French law, clarify it and reduce it to a written code in 1804. It was the first modern legal code and was designed to make the law both more uniform and more accessible so everyone would know the consequences of their behavior and all citizens would be treated the same. It is a system of civil law based on Justinian's sixth-century codification of Roman law. Napoleon's code is still in use but has been revised.

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