History glossary
the Napoleonic Code
Napoleon's civil law code that standardized property, contract, family, and legal equality rules across France.
- Category
- Legal code
- Region
- France and Napoleonic Europe
- Date range
- from 1804
What it means
The Napoleonic Code, formally the Civil Code of 1804, consolidated French civil law after the Revolution. It protected property rights, legal equality for male citizens, and secular state authority, while reinforcing patriarchal family law. Its influence spread through French rule and legal imitation across Europe and beyond.
Related terms
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