Napoleon Code

Napoleon Bonaparte had introduced many reforms but Napoleon Code became immortal..

Background:

Napoleonic Code or french civil code came into force on 21.03.1804. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a french military leader and emperor. The  Napoleon Code was prepared during his reign.  

He had introduced many reforms and policies like administrative, economic, social, educational, policy with the pope, etc. But the civil code better known as Napoleon Code proved to be more important, fruitful, and more enduring than any one of them. There were many types of laws in the “old system” of France. 

There was also a lot of confusion in those laws and procedures. In all of this, with the addition of many new laws during the French Revolution, more chaos ensued.

Consequently,  Napoleon appointed a committee to bring order and simplicity to this jungle of laws. He took a personal interest in the work of this committee, guided it, and completed the work in a very short time. 

The committee drafted a total of five laws, including civil, criminal, commercial, educational laws, etc. There were no special new laws in all of them, but they contained the laws of the monarchical and revolutionary times in a systematic and easy-to-understand way, even for the less educated. 

The distinctive feature of these laws was that they applied equally to all classes of the public.

It did not accommodate any kind of political, social, or religious bias. Law collections were formed on the basis of practical intelligence and experience rather than just classical principles. It removed the vices of France’s “old system” and retained all the benefits that the French people had received during the Revolution.

These law collections became known as the “Napoleon Code”. As he himself put it, his fame has become immortal not because of the wars he fought or because of the victories he achieved, but because of these codes. It was immediately implemented in France, but also in Europe, where all the countries that came under Napoleon’s rule continued to implement the laws.

 
In the beginning years of the 19th century, the code was introduced into Haiti and  Dominican Republic, and it still prevails there. Bolivia and Chile followed the code arrangement and did borrow a lot from the code. Later, The Chilean code was copied by Ecuador and Colombia, followed by Uruguay and Argentina. 

Such a genius Napoleon, in fact, turned the “French Revolution” into a “European Revolution!”. Historians hailed the twenty-five years (1795 to 1821 AD) of European history as “The Era of Napoleon”.

 

For more information like this check out the history section.