Napoleonic Code

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

The Napoleonic Code incorporated civil law at length by regulating property rights and the acquisition of property. It also dealt with relationships between individuals. It strengthened the authority of men over their families, tightened divorce laws, restricted the rights of illegitimate children, and deprived women of individual rights, thus curtailing some of the freedoms they had achieved during the French Revolution of the late eighteenth century. Male citizens were given equal rights under the law as well as the right to religious dissent. Men could disinherit children and even, if they desired, imprison them for a month.

The Napoleonic Code draws heavily on the Institutes of the Roman Corpus Juris Civilis for its portion on civil law. Civil law, in this case, deals with licenses, trusts, the hiring and supervision of labor, the formation of contracts, and legitimacy of birth. In addition, the code states that every person born in France of a foreigner may assume the rights of a Frenchman when he becomes an adult as long as he lives in France. Further, every person born of a Frenchman in a foreign country is considered French. A Frenchman may lose his French rights if he becomes naturalized in a foreign country or if he accepts public employment in another country without the authority of the French government. A Frenchman may be able to recover his rights if he moves back to France and obeys the country's laws. The code also specifies the disposition of a person's property and inheritance if he is imprisoned or executed.

The guiding principle of the Napoleonic Code was that everyone is equal before the law, regardless of their birth. Many of the gains that had been made during the French Revolution, such as equality before the law, freedom of religion, and the abolition of feudalism, were codified in one form or another in the code, making it in some respects decidedly liberal. Yet at the same time, the code was highly conservative. Women and children were clearly placed at a social and economic disadvantage after the creation of these laws. Women were not permitted to take part in the trading of slaves or property without the permission of their husbands. The husband thus became the official ruler of the household. Even though the wife was compelled to obey the husband, the husband was required to offer her protection.