What makes napoleon an enlightened despot?
He reformed the legal system in France and created the metric system. Before Napoleon, there was no written book of French law. It was up to the Judge to determine the crime and the punishment, and the King could lock anyone in jail for anything, and leave them their without a charge for the rest of their life. After the Revolution, judges still controlled the law. Napoleon “invented” the idea of a written law, that was more powerful than any judge or military agent enforcing the law. He was very involved in the writing of the French legal Code, designed to provide for every citizen, rich or poor, access and knowledge of the law, and followed the Enlightement authors idea that the punishment should fit the crime. Even in the USA today, judges still “make law,” and interpret law. Napoleon took that power away from judges and put the law book forward as the only authority in the land. France also used many methods of measuring weights distances, volume and other amounts. The methods of m
