Editing Napoleonic Code (section)

{{short description|French civil code established in 1804}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox legislation
|short_title            = Civil Code of the French<br />{{small|{{lang|fr|Code civil des Français}}}}
|legislature            = Legislature of the [[French Consulate]]
|image                  = Speyer (DerHexer) 2010-12-19 051.jpg
|imagesize              = 
|image_upright          = 
|imagealt               = 
|caption                = The Napoleonic Code in the [[Historical Museum of the Palatinate]] in [[Speyer]]
|long_title             = 
|citation               = [https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/texte_lc/LEGITEXT000006070721/2020-09-18/ Code civil]
|territorial_extent     = [[France]]
|considered_by          = 
|enacted_by             = ''[[Corps législatif]]''
|date_enacted           = 
|date_passed            = 
|date_assented          = 
|royal_assent           = 
|date_signed            = 
|signed_by              = [[First Consul]] [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]]
|date_commenced         = 
|date_effective         = {{start date|1804|03|21|df=y}}
|date_of_expiry         = 
|date_repealed          = 
|administered_by        = 
|bill                   = 
|bill_citation          = 
|bill_date              = 
|introduced_by          = Jacques de Maleville<br />[[Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis|Jean Portalis]]<br />[[Félix-Julien-Jean Bigot de Préameneu|Félix Bigot de Préameneu]]<br />[[François Denis Tronchet|François Tronchet]]
|1st_reading            = 
|2nd_reading            = 
|3rd_reading            = 
|conf_committee_passed  = 
|committee_report       = 
|date_conf_committee    = 
|white_paper            = 
|amends                 = 
|repeals                = [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k56510716?rk=21459;2 Civil Code of the French Republic] (1803)
|amended_by             = [https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/LEGIARTI000038262578/2019-03-25#LEGIARTI000038262578 Law 2019-2022] on 1 September 2020
|repealed_by            = 
|related_legislation    = 
|summary                = 
|keywords               = 
|status                 = amended
}}
{{Napoleon series}}

The '''Napoleonic Code''' ({{Langx|fr|Code Napoléon}}), officially the '''Civil Code of the French''' ({{Langx|fr|Code civil des Français}}; simply referred to as {{lang|fr|Code civil}}), is the [[France|French]] [[civil code]] established during the [[French Consulate]] in 1804 and still in force in France, although heavily and frequently amended since its inception.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Code civil des Français: édition originale et seule officielle |publisher=L'Imprimerie de la République. |place=Paris |year=1804 |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1061517/f2.image |access-date= 28 November 2016 |via= Gallica}}</ref> Although [[Napoleon]] himself was not directly involved in the drafting of the Code, as it was drafted by a commission of four eminent jurists,<ref name="Robert B. Holtman 1981">Robert B. Holtman, ''The Napoleonic Revolution'' (Baton Rouge: [[Louisiana State University Press]], 1981)</ref> he chaired many of the commission's plenary sessions,<ref name=Foot01/> and his support was crucial to its enactment.<ref>Roberts, Andrew, ''Napoleon: A Life'',"Lawgiver"</ref>

The code, with its stress on clearly written and accessible law, was a major milestone in the abolition of the previous patchwork of [[Feudalism|feudal]] laws.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1327640.pdf | jstor=1327640 | title=Napoleon and His Code | last1=Lobingier | first1=Charles Sumner | journal=Harvard Law Review | date=1918 | volume=32 | issue=2 | pages=114–134 | doi=10.2307/1327640 }}</ref> Historian Robert Holtman regards it as one of the few documents that have influenced the whole world.<ref name="Robert B. Holtman 1981"/><ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=The Napoleonic Code {{!}} History of Western Civilization II |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-napoleonic-code/ |access-date=30 January 2021 |website=courses.lumenlearning.com}}</ref>

The Napoleonic Code was not the first legal code to be established in a European country with a [[civil law (legal system)|civil-law]] [[List of national legal systems|legal system]]; it was preceded by the {{lang|la|[[Codex Maximilianeus bavaricus civilis]]}} ([[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]], 1756), the {{lang|de|[[Allgemeines Landrecht]]}} ([[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], 1794), and the ''[[West Galician Code]]'' ([[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]], then part of [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], 1797).{{cn|date=June 2023}} It was, however, the first modern legal code to be adopted with a pan-European scope, and it strongly influenced the law of many of the countries formed during and after the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref name=":0">[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/history-of-law-in-europe/french-revolution-and-the-law/39F246BD158F001C5ACBFB8B471A6D35 29 - The French Revolution and the Law], in ''Part IV - The Age of Reforms (1750–1814)'', Cambridge University Press, 31 July 2017; Antonio Padoa-Schioppa, 
Translated by
Caterina Fitzgerald</ref><ref name="Robert B. Holtman 1981"/><ref name=":1" /> The Napoleonic Code influenced developing countries outside Europe attempting to modernise and defeudalise their countries through legal reforms, such as those in the [[Middle East]],<ref>{{cite book|page=19|title=Globalization and New International Public Works Agreements in Developing Countries: An Analytical Perspective|author=Mohamed A.M. Ismail | publisher=Routledge |year=2016|isbn=9781317127031|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-gFDAAAQBAJ|via=[[Google Books]]|quote="All civil codes of Arab Middle Eastern states are based on Napoleonic Codes and were influenced by Egyptian legislation"}}</ref> while in [[Latin America]] the Spanish and Portuguese had established their own versions of the civil code.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/840794 | jstor=840794 | title=Civil Law and Common Law in the Legal Method of Puerto Rico | last1=Matta | first1=Liana Fiol | journal=[[The American Journal of Comparative Law]] | date=1992 | volume=40 | issue=4 | pages=783–815 | doi=10.2307/840794 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>