Why didFrance need the Napoleonic Code?
The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified. It was drafted rapidly by a commission of four eminent jurists and entered into force on March 21, 1804. The Napoleonic Code was not based on earlier French laws but instead it followed Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis in dividing civil law into: 1. the law of persons; 2. the law of property; 3. acquisition of property. Napoleon set out to reform the French legal system in accordance with the ideas of the French Revolution because the old feudal and royal laws seemed 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 last vestiges of feudalism were abolished. Specifically, the many different legal systems used in different parts of France were to
