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Civil Code or Code Napoleon By Richard Moore The longest lasting effect of Napoleon Bonaparte's rule over France was his overseeing the implementation of a series of national laws collectively known as the Civil Code, or Code Napoleon. They included the Codes of Civil Procedure, Commercial Law (1807), Penal Code (1810) and Criminal Procedure (1808). Napoleon wanted to replace a series of existing laws - that varied in each French province - and replace them with a standard code for all French people. He had already reformed the French taxation system bringing to his imperial coffers almost 700 million francs annually. The sources for the money came from taxes on income and a series of levies on goods - such as wine, tobacco and salt. In 1800 he added to his overhaul of the financial system by creating the Bank of France. Napoleon did not play a part in its formation, which was handled by an official commission from 1801, nor did he look many of the 2281 suggested laws before they had been debated by the Council of State. But once that had happened Napoleon focused his attentions on it and used his exceptional administrative talents to influence its overall impact. The principal tenet of the Civil Code was that every French person was equal before the law. This was a boon for many, however, while he took the religious aspect out of divorce, many of his views did limit Revolution-founded freedoms for women. For example women were not allowed to independently trade in chattels or property, but had to ask their husbands before they did so. He tightened divorce laws and fathers were empowered as rulers of their homes. They could ban children from inheritance and also imprison children for a month. He showed great foresight in beginning a programme of public works that included building canals, harbours and made roads better and safer by improving their condition and cracking down on brigands. Education was improved for many, although the majority of children did not gain benefit from his new specialised and high schools. He encouraged the creation of private schools and sowed the seeds of community-wide literacy. Never one to accept criticism well, Napoleon cracked down on the press, censoring newspapers and eventually closing down all but a few. The Civil Code was officially enacted in 1804 and in 1807 was renamed Code Napoleon. It applied to all French domains and territories as well as being adopted by countries within the sphere of French influence. Today the Civil Code forms the basis of many European legal systems. The first modern organized body of law governing France, also known as the Code Napoleon or Code Civil, enacted by Napoléon I in 1804. In 1800, Napoléon I appointed a commission of four persons to undertake the task of compiling the Napoleonic Code. Their efforts, along with those of J. J. Cambacérès, were instrumental in the preparation of the final draft. The Napoleonic Code assimilated the private law of France, which was the law governing transactions and relationships between individuals. The Code, which is regarded by some commentators as the first modern counterpart to ROMAN LAW, is currently in effect in France in an amended form. 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. Napoléon applied the code to the territories he governed—namely, some of the German states, the low countries, and northern Italy. It was extremely influential in Spain and, eventually, in Latin America as well as in all other European nations except England, where theCOMMON LAW prevailed. It was the harbinger, in France and abroad, of codifications of other areas of law, such as CRIMINAL LAW, CIVIL PROCEDURE, and COMMERCIAL LAW. The Napoleonic Code served as the prototype for subsequent codes during the nineteenth century in twenty-four countries; the province of Québec and the state of Louisiana have derived a substantial portion of their laws from it. Napoléon also promulgated four other codes: the Code of Civil Procedure (1807), the COMMERCIAL CODE (1808), the Code of Criminal Procedure (1811), and the Penal Code (1811). Read more: http://law.jrank.org/pages/8702/Napoleonic-Code.html#ixzz0VSOF2JQG Orders in Council (1807) The Orders in Council of 1806 were a specific use of an order of the British Privy Council, made under the Royal prerogative, during the Napoleonic Wars. They had the effect of authorizing theRoyal Navy to blockade the seaports of France and her European allies. 806, Napoleon was master of continental Europe effectively locking the United Kingdom out of the continent. However, the defeat of the French and Spanish navies at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) ended any thoughts of an invasion of the United Kingdom. The Orders in Council of 1806 were a specific use of an order of the British Privy Council, made under the Royal prerogative, during the Napoleonic Wars. They had the effect of authorizing theRoyal Navy to blockade the seaports of France and her European allies. Background By 1806, Napoleon was master of continental Europe effectively locking the United Kingdom out of the continent. However, the defeat of the French and Spanish navies at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) ended any thoughts of an invasion of the United Kingdom. Napoleon, aware of British commercial strength, thus resorted to a policy of economic warfare, in what became known as the Continental System. The Berlin Decree of 1806 forbade French, allied or neutral ships trading with Britain. By this means Napoleon hoped to destroy British trade, disrupt her growing industrial expansion and diminish her credit. The United Kingdom responded with the Orders in Council of 1807 issued 11 November 1807 . These forbade French trade with the United Kingdom, her allies or neutrals, and instructed the Royal Navy to blockade French and allied ports. Napoleon retaliated with the Milan Decree of 1807, which declared that all neutral shipping using British ports, or paying British tariffs, were to be regarded as British and seized. Consequences Due to the strength of the Royal Navy, the British blockade of continental Europe was reasonably effective. French trade suffered and her primitive industrial revolution was set back. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, remained able to trade with her overseas colonies; indeed, such trade increased over the period. Smuggling naturally persisted, and Napoleon was even forced to make exceptions to his embargo in order to procure necessary supplies for his war effort. More significantly, enforcing the economic blockades led both the United Kingdom and France into a series of military engagements. The British bombarded Copenhagen in September 1807 (Battle of Copenhagen) to prevent the Danish joining the Continental System, and the British policy of stopping neutral ships trading with France played a large part in the outbreak of the Anglo-American War of 1812. However, it was Napoleon's invasion of Russia in the same year, again in part to enforce his continental system, that proved to be the turning point of the war. He was never able to recover militarily from that defeat. The economic warfare ended with Napoleon's final defeat in 1815. Repeal of the Orders in Council The British made their greatest concession to the United States in June of 1812 just as the United States was declaring war. On June 16, 1812, two days before the United States declaration of war,Lord Castlereagh, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs announced in Parliament of the United Kingdom that the Order in Council would be suspended. On the very day that the Minister took his formal leave of the United States, June 23, 1812, a new British Government headed by Lord Liverpool provisionally repealed the Order in Council. Forty-one days after the United States Congress declared war, the word arrived in London on July 29, 1812. Two days later, July 31, 1812, the Ministry ordered its first counter-measures. It forbade English ships to sail except in convoys and restrained American ships in English ports. The Orders in Council had been repealed on June 23, 1812, but the ministers did not intend to take additional measures until they could learn the American reaction. Word of the repeal of the Orders did not reach President James Madison until August 12, 1812, some fifty days later. Even then he refused to halt hostilities because he did not know how Britain had reacted to the declaration of war.  Continental System, scheme of action adopted by Napoleon I in his economic warfare with England from 1806 to 1812. Economic warfare had been carried on before 1806, but the system itself was initiated by the Berlin Decree, which claimed that the British blockade of purely commercial ports was contrary to international law. It was extended by the Warsaw Decree (1807), the Milan Decree (1807), and the Fontainebleau Decree (1810), which forbade trade with Great Britain on the part of France, her allies, and neutrals. Napoleon expected that the unfavorable trade balance and loss of precious metals would destroy England's credit, break the Bank of England, and ruin English industry. Great Britain retaliated by the orders in council, which forbade nearly all trade between England and any nation obeying the Berlin Decree. One of the most dramatic results of the commercial warfare was the English bombardment of neutralCopenhagen (1807) and the seizure of the Danish fleet. The trade restrictions of the continental system led to a decline of the significance of Amsterdam; it never regained its former prominence. England had control of the sea, and large-scale smuggling thrived all along the European coast (with U.S. privateers taking a large part in the illegal trade). Napoleon himself issued special licenses for trade bringing in colonial goods on the payment of duties. Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812 was brought on by Russia's refusal to conform to the decrees, and the war between England and the United States, known as the War of 1812, was to some extent a result of the economic warfare. But so difficult was the enforcement of the system that in his effort to impose it on Russia, Napoleon had to violate it in France. Whether the continental system delayed the introduction of the Industrial Revolution to France is much debated, though it did foster the development of beet sugar manufacture and machine spinning of textiles. Bibliography See F. E. Melvin, Napoleon's Navigation System (1919); E. F. Heckscher, The Continental System (1922); G. Ellis,Napoleon's Continental Blockade (1991). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia® Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Continental System In the Napoleonic Wars, the blockade designed by Napoleon to paralyze Britain through the destruction of British commerce. In the Decrees of Berlin (1806) and Milan (1807), France proclaimed that neutrals and French allies were not to trade with the British. The United Kingdom responded with a counterblockade, which led indirectly to the War of 1812. Because of Britain's naval superiority, the effort to enforce the system proved disastrous for Napoleon.