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Napoleonic Code
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Even though the Napoleonic Code was not the first civil code and did not represent the whole of his empire, it was one of the most influential. It was adopted in many countries occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars and ... formed the basis of the private law systems also of Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and their former colonies. In the German regions on the left bank of the Rhine (Rhenish Palatinate and Prussian Rhine Province) the Napoleonic code was in use until the introduction of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch in 1900 as the first common civil code for the entire German Empire.
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The Napoleonic Code is a revised version of the Roman law or civil law, which predominated in Europe, with numerous French modifications, some of which were based on the Germanic law that had been in effect 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 licenses; the acquisition of property, such as trusts; and personal status, such as legitimacy of birth.
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The Napoleonic Code is famously referred to in Tennessee Williams' play and Elia Kazan's filmed version of A Streetcar Named Desire. Stanley Kowalski refers to the Napoleonic Code to justify his right to Blanche & Stella DuBois' family estate of which he just learned was sold. He is convinced Blanche has used the proceeds from the sale of the estate to purchase expensive personal items, which is why he searches through her things. Generally, he interprets the Code as "What's yours is mine" because he's married to Stella. It is ... referred to in James Clavell's "Whirlwind" (p155) as an excuse for consumption of alcohol on a Muslim (Iranian) oil rig; it being French managed and therefore subject to the "Code Napoleon". In the novel, and subsequent film, Maurice there is mention that nations with the Napoleonic code did not make homosexual relations between consenting adults in private a crime. It is also mentioned in episode 408 of The West Wing, "Process Stories".
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The intention behind the Napoleonic Code was to reform the French legal system in accordance with the principles of the French Revolution because the old feudal and royal laws seemed to be confusing and contradictory to the people. Before the Code, France did not have a single set of laws; laws depended on local customs, and often on exemptions, privileges and special charters granted by the kings or other feudal lords. During the Revolution the vestiges of feudalism were abolished, and the many different legal systems used in different parts of France were to be replaced by a single legal code, whose writing Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès had been charged to lead. However, due to the turmoils of war and unrest, the situation did not much advance until Napoleon's era ensured more stability and Cambacérès, then Second Consul under Napoleon, could work in a more serene manner.
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Prior to the Napoleonic Code, the French were subject to a bewildering series of Roman law, local rules and customs, church law and royal decrees. The code was intended to conform only to the dictates of reason.
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In Naples Murat not only satisfied his own vanity by a lavish court display but ... carried out important reforms, breaking up the vast landed estates and introducing the Napoleonic Code. The administration was opened to advancement by merit, cotton growing was encouraged, and effective measures were taken against the chronic Neapolitan brigandage. Murat even foresaw the unification of Italy,...
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Napoleonic Code