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French Civil Code, 1804
After four years of debate and planning, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte enacts a new legal framework for France, known as the “Napoleonic Code.” The civil code gave post-revolutionary France its first coherent set of laws concerning property, colonial affairs, the family, and individual rights.
In 1800, General Napoleon Bonaparte, as the new dictator of France, began the arduous task of revising France’s outdated and muddled legal system. He established a special commission, led by J.J. Cambaceres, which met more than 80 times to discuss the revolutionary legal revisions, and Napoleon presided over nearly half of these sessions. In March 1804, the Napoleonic Code was finally approved.
It codified several branches of law, including commercial and criminal law, and divided civil law into categories of property and family.
Article 1421. The husband alone administers the property of the community [shared assets of the couple]. He may sell it, alienate and pledge it without the concurrence of his wife.
Article 1426. Acts done by the wife without her husband’s consent and even with the authority of the law, do not bind the property of the community, except when she contracts as a public trader for the purposes of her traffic.
Article 1428. The husband has the management of all personal property of the wife. He may prosecute alone all possessory actions and those relating to movables [i.e., personal belongings], which belong to his wife. He cannot alienate the personal immovables [land or buildings] of his wife without her consent.
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