Legal history of France

The legal history of France is commonly divided into three periods: that of the old French law (Ancien Droit), that of the Revolutionary or intermediary law (Droit révolutionnaire ou intermédiaire), and that of the Napoleonic law or Droit nouveau ('New law').

Old French law
Main article: Old French law

Revolutionary law

"The legislative work of the French Revolution has been qualified as intermediary law since it formed the transition between the old French law and the new, the law covered by the Napoleonic codes."[1] "The private law of the French Revolution is to-day no longer considered an intermediary law. Yet from a positivist point of view, most of the provisions enacted in this area between 1788 to 1799 were of short duration."[2] Feudalism was abolished on the night of 4 August 1789. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted on the 26 August. The basis for the declaration comes from Nicolas Bergasse in the "Report on the Organization of Judicial Power" proposed on 17 August 1789, Adrien Duport in the "Fundamental Principles of Policing and Justice, Submitted on Behalf of the Committee on the Constitution" written 22 December 1789, and Jacques Guillaume Thouret in the "Address on the Reorganization of the Judicial Power" written 24 March 1790. Many others have speculated that ideals such as innocence until proven guilty, equality between all classes and genders when dealing with law, punishment for opposition to the government, and religious freedom come from the Bill of Rights written in 1789. Also, similar to Magna Carta, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen restrict the power of the government when dealing with taxes but also require higher taxes from poorer subjects. This attributed to the growing proletariat class that would eventually rise up and revolt again leading into the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.

Napoleonic law

Napoleonic law is still considered "the foundation stone of the French legal system."[3]

Aftermath of the First French Empire

The judicial system of post-Napoleonic France was an intricate system of relations between the government and the police/judicial force. Together they helped to minimize crime while successfully fulfilling the guarantees made in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen written in 1789. Crime in post-Napoleonic France was seen as an act of high treason, which explains the harsh punishment. In Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables, Jean Valjean receives a sentence of five years hard work in the galleys for the small crime of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's children. This points out the injustice of the system. While providing a deterrent for crime, hardship cases such as Jean Valjean's and Fantine's fall through the cracks of society when they deserved special attention because of the situations that caused the crime.

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See also

References
  1. The Encyclopedia Americana. 11. 1951. p. 611.
  2. Annales historiques de la Révolution française. 74. 2002. p. 282.
  3. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100222619
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