Napoleonic Code
Early version of the Code Civil des Français (“Civil Code of the French”; known as the Napoleonic Code), dated 1803 (year XI of the French republican calendar). The code was promulgated in its entirety in 1804 (year XII) by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleonic Code
France [1804]
Also known as: Civil Code, Code Civil, Code Napoléon
Napoleonic Code, French civil code enacted on March 21, 1804, and still extant, with revisions. It was the main influence on the 19th-century civil codes of most countries of continental Europe and Latin America. The demand for codification and, indeed, codification itself preceded the Napoleonic era (1799–1815). Diversity of laws was the dominant characteristic of the prerevolutionary legal order. Roman law governed in the south of France, whereas in the northern provinces, including Paris, a...
Discover the world with Britannica
Subscribe to Continue Reading
Free Trial
|
No Ads
|
Exclusive Content
Explore Subscriptions
