I. Napoleon 1799 - 1814, 1815
A. Seized control of the Directory
1. Formed after Committee of Public Safety – 1795
B. Became First Consul – 1799
1. three parliamentary assemblies – debate, vote, advise
C. Created a strong central government
1. ended violence and chaos
2. defeated foreign empires invading France
D. Crowned himself Emperor of France FOR LIFE - 1804
E. by 1812 – conquered all of western & central Europe
F. Forced out of power in 1814 – exiled to Elba
1. humiliating military defeats, especially in Russia
G. Returned to rule France in 1815, before his final defeat against the British at city of Waterloo
II. Napoleon’s Legacy
A. Law Reforms – Napoleonic Code
1. equality for all citizens
2. tolerated different religions
3. advance in career based on merit (you earn it)
4. men given complete authority over wives and children
B. Nationalism
1. person’s willingness to work for nation against foreign control (political, economic, cultural)
C. Congress of Vienna (Sept 1814 – June 1815)
1. states of Europe gathered after collapse of Napoleon’s Empire
2. redraw the boundaries of Europe & create stronger countries around France
3. Switzerland made neutral
The Napoleonic Code
Legal System in France Before the Code Napoleon set out to reform the French legal system in accordance with the ideas of the French Revolution. Before the Napoleonic Code, France did not have a single set of laws. Law consisted mainly of local customs. There were also exemptions, privileges, and special charters granted by the kings or other feudal lords. During the Revolution, the last traces of feudalism were abolished and a new legal code was required to address changes in the social, economic, and political structure of French society.
The Napoleonic Code The Code was complete by 1801 but was not published until 1804. It was proclaimed as the Civil Code of the French but was renamed the Napoleonic Code. The development of the code was a fundamental change in the nature of the civil law legal system as it stressed clearly written and accessible law. The preliminary article of the Code established certain important provisions regarding the rule of law. Laws could be applied only if they had been declared and then published officially. Thus, no secret laws were authorized. Praised for its clarity, the Code spread rapidly throughout Europe and the world in and marked the end of feudalism and the liberation of serfs where it took effect. The Code recognized the principles of civil liberty, equality before the law (although not for women in the same sense as for men), and the secular (non-religious) character of the state. With regard to family, the Code established the supremacy of the man over the wife and children, which was the general legal situation in Europe at the time. It discarded the old right of primogeniture (where only the eldest son inherited) and required that inheritances be divided equally among all children. The court system was standardized, and all judges were appointed by the national government in Paris.
The Napoleonic Code was not the first legal code to be established in a European country with a civil legal system. It was, however, the first modern legal code to be adopted with a pan-European scope and strongly influenced the law of many of the countries formed during and after the Napoleonic Wars. The Napoleonic Code was very influential in developing countries outside Europe, especially in the Middle East, that were attempting to modernize through legal reforms.
Significance and Lasting Impact Although the Napoleonic Code was not the first civil code and did not represent the whole of Napoleon’s empire, it was one of the most influential. It was adopted in many countries occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars and thus formed the basis of the law systems of Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal (and their former colonies), and Poland (until 1946). In the German regions on the west bank of the Rhine, the Napoleonic Code was in use until the introduction in 1900 of the first common civil code for the entire German Empire. A civil code with strong Napoleonic influences was also adopted in 1864 in Romania and remained in force until 2011. The Code was adopted in Egypt as part of the system of mixed courts introduced in Egypt after the fall of Khedive Ismail (1879). In the Persian Gulf Arab states of the Middle East, the influence of the Napoleonic Code mixed with hints of Islamic law is clear even in Saudi Arabia. In Kuwait, for example, property rights, women’s rights, and the education system were seen as Islamic reenactments of the French civil code. Thus, the civil law systems of the countries of modern continental Europe, with the exception of Russia and the Scandinavian countries have, to different degrees, been influenced by the Napoleonic Code. In the United States, whose legal system is largely based on English common law, the state of Louisiana is unique in having a strong influence from the Napoleonic Code and Spanish legal traditions on its civil code. The development of the Napoleonic Code was a fundamental change in the nature of the civil law system, making laws clearer and more accessible. It also replaced the former royal legislative power and the power of judges representing views and privileges of the social classes to which they belonged. Such conflict led revolutionaries to take a negative view of the judges and the judicial system. This is reflected in the Napoleonic Code provision prohibiting judges from deciding a case. Moreover, both the code and legislation have required judicial interpretation. Thus, a vast body of judicially-created law has come into existence.