Napoleonic code

The original Napoleonic Code, or Code Napoléon (originally called the Code civil des français, or civil code of the French), was the French civil code, established at the behest of Napoléon. It entered into force on March 21, 1804. Even though the Napoleonic code was not the first legal code to be established in a European country with a civil legal system — it was preceded by the Codex Maximilianeus bavaricus civilis (Bavaria, 1756), the Allgemeines Landrecht (Prussia, 1792) and the West Galician Code, (Galicia, then part of Austria, 1797) — it is considered the first successful codification and strongly influenced the law of many other countries.

Other French codes of Napoleon's era

Penal Code

In 1791, Louis Michel le Peletier, de Saint-Fargeau had presented a new criminal code to the national Constituent Assembly. He explained that it outlawed only "true crimes" and not "phoney offenses, created by superstition, feudalism, the tax system, and despotism." He did not list the crimes "created by superstition" (meaning the Christian religion), but these certainly included blasphemy, heresy, sacrilege, and witchcraft, and most probably also incest, bestiality, and same-sex sexual acts, none of which was mentioned in the new Penal Code (promulgated September 26-October 6, 1791). All these former offenses were thus decriminalized.

Related Topics:
1791 - Louis Michel le Peletier, de Saint-Fargeau - Christian

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In 1810, a new criminal code was issued under Napoleon. As the preceding one, and probably under Cambacérès' influence, it did not contain provisions against religious crimes or same-sex acts.

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Code of Criminal Instruction

In 1808, a "Code of Criminal Instruction" (Code d'instruction criminelle) was published. This code laid out criminal procedure. The parlement system from before the Revolution had been guilty of much abuse; the criminal courts established by the Revolution were a complex and ineffective system, subject to much local pressures. The genesis of this code resulted in much debate. The resulting code is the basis of the modern so-called "inquisitorial system" of criminal courts, used in France and many civil law countries — though, of course, it has significantly changed since Napoléon's days (especially, with improvements of the right of the defense).

Related Topics:
1808 - Criminal procedure - Parlement - Inquisitorial system - Civil law

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The French Revolution's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen had declared that suspects were presumed to be innocent until they had been declared to be guilty . A concern of Bonaparte's was the possibility of arbitrary arrest, or excessive remand (imprisonment prior to a trial). Bonaparte remarked that care should be taken to preserve personal freedoms especially when the case was before the Imperial Court: "these courts would have a great strength, they should be prohibited from abusing this situation against weak citizen without connections." However, remand still was the normal procedure for suspects of severe crimes, such as murder.

Related Topics:
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen - Remand - Murder

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The possibility for justice to endorse lengthy remand periods was one reason why the Napoleonic Code was criticized for de facto presumption of guilt, particularly in common law countries. However, the legal proceedings certainly did not have de jure presumption of guilt; for instance, the juror's oath explicitely recommended that the jury did not betray the interests of the defendants, and took attention of the means of defense.

Related Topics:
De facto - Presumption of guilt - Common law - De jure

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The rules governing court proceedings, by today's standards, probably gave too much power to the prosecution; it must be said, however, that criminal justice in European countries in those days tended to side with repression. For instance, it was only in 1836 that prisoners were charged with a felony were allowed to have counsel (i.e. a lawyer) in England the (Prisoners' Counsel Act).http://www.ebc-india.com/lawyer/articles/97v8a3.htm In comparison, article 294 of the Napoleonic Code of Criminal Procedure allowed the defendant to have a lawyer before the Court of Assizes (judging felonies), and mandated the court to appoint him a lawyer if he did not have one (failure to do so rendered the proceedings null).

Related Topics:
1836 - Felony - England - Lawyer

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Whether or not the assize courts, whose task was to judge severe crimes, were to operate with a jury was a topic of considerable controversy; Bonaparte supported judgment juries, and they were finally adopted. On the other hand, Bonaparte was opposed to the indictment jury ("grand jury" in common law countries) and preferred to give this task to the criminal section of the Court of Appeal. Some special courts were created for the judgment of criminals who could intimidate the jury.

Related Topics:
Assize court - Jury - Indictment - Grand jury - Common law - Court of Appeal - Intimidate

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Bonaparte also insisted that the courts judging civil and criminal cases should be the same, if only to give them more prestige.

Related Topics:
Civil - Criminal

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