Making France Strong After adopting the title of First Consul, Napoleon set about to improve French life in a variety of ways One of his first tasks was to bring together all the legal reforms of the French Revolution and harmonize them into existing French laws Eventually referred to as the “Napoleonic Code”, this would be his most long lasting achievement

French Legal System prior to the Revolution In fact, prior to Napoleon embarking on this task, France did not have a single set of laws There were different laws in different parts of the country In some parts of the country laws were based on local custom, in other parts they were based on Ancient Roman law Furthermore, there were exemptions, privileges and special charters for the aristocracy Indeed, French law was complicated and outmoded It was a patchwork of hundreds of years of feudalism

Legal Changes during the Revolution This is not to suggest that improvements did not occur during the French Revolution – they did! In fact, as a result of the revolution the last vestiges of feudalism were abolished The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen provided people with basic human rights that were inalienable People were guaranteed freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of religious choice Security and property rights were enshrined And the distinction between the classes: Aristocracy, Clergy, and Commoners were forever eliminated

A New Book of Law for the Nation But Napoleon wanted was to see all of these improvements brought together as one He wanted to eliminate the legal divisions in the land His goal was, in fact, to create a single, new book of law for the nation

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen Overall, what the Napoleonic Code did was to roll over the rights given in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen Hence, all people were deemed equal in the eyes of the law Furthermore it replaced existing laws that had varied in different parts of the country

Origins The Napoleonic Code was essentially the first modern revision of Ancient Roman Law Roman law had been modified by both the French and Germans for centuries Hence, what Napoleon created was a modernized form of Ancient Roman Law

Napoleon: A Male Chauvinist But not all of the Napoleonic Code was enlightened Napoleon was a male chauvinist He believed that women were inferior to men And this was in spite of the critical role that women played during the French Revolution

Like the Romans Napoleon harkened back to the Ancient Regime of the Romans He believed that man should be the head of the household in charge of all property Under this system women were equated with property

Women’s “Rights” under the Code Under the Napoleonic Code, women were placed under the control of their fathers or husbands They had to conform to the wishes of the male head of the household Women could be punished for disobedience They had no rights to property other than what they inherited A woman even needed a male’s permission to purchase a house

Influences Today But in spite of these short-comings, the reach and influence of the Napoleonic Code was impressive Immediately, the Napoleon Code applied to all the extensive territories France governed and controlled globally Aside from this, it was also very influential in the legal systems which developed in Spain, Latin America, and all other European countries except England It served as the prototype for codes in the 19 th century in 24 different countries

Closer to Home The Province of Quebec and the state of Louisiana have derived significant portions of their laws from the Napoleonic code Since that time, however, significant amendments have been made to the code, particularly with regards to the rights of women

Other Napoleonic Initiatives Napoleon sought other improvements as well He initiated a program of public works to keep people working He rebuilt and improved French roads and sewers He built new harbors and canals Be established a central bank, the “Banque de France” He established new schools and universities And to keep the peace, he kept the price of food staples low

Making Peace with the Catholic Church He also made peace with the religious community The Reign of Terror had been a bad time for the Roman Catholic Church Robespierre had essentially outlawed the church, sold off their assets and had priests arrested and executed Napoleon signed the Concordat of 1801 which re- established the Roman Catholic Church as the primary church of France Napoleon’s aim here was to gain the support of a significant portion of the French populace who were still honored and supported the Roman Catholic Church

Mismanaging the Economy But although Napoleon created jobs, the jobs he created were not tied to a growing economy Napoleon’s new jobs were, in fact, artificially created (Government jobs) They were made to prop up his war regime In fact, much of the wealth France acquired during this period was stolen from the countries that it conquered (like Italy) France, itself, was doing little if anything to create any real wealth of its own Furthermore, the debt problems which had been partially solved during the time of Robespierre, once again reared their ugly head Napoleon, in his quest to conquer the world, was creating a debt that paled in comparison to what had helped to bring on the French Revolution in the first place

Can’t compete with England France, in fact, had great difficulty competing with her major rival, England England was entering into an Industrial Revolution New products were being made by machine and on mass English goods were better and cheaper than French products Better and cheaper wins every time!

Protectionism Napoleon, however, did not see the economy as being a priority Napoleon, obsessed with military conquest, did not have time to modernize French industry Instead he opted for quick “Band-Aid solutions” One of these “solutions” was to make English products more expensive by putting tariffs or taxes on them He hoped this would encourage people to buy inferior French products

An Era of Smuggling and Piracy Napoleon’s tariff system failed People did not opt to buy cheaper, inferior French goods Instead this period saw much smuggling of English goods into France England controlled the high seas Hence, it was easier for English pirates and smugglers to pay off the Royal Navy to turn a blind eye During this period many English smugglers, who were little more than pirates, became fabulously wealthy in their sale of illegal and underground English goods