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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In 1800, General Napoleon Bonaparte, as the new dictator of France, began the arduous task of revising France’s outdated and muddled legal system.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 161. In a direct line, marriage is prohibited between all the ascending and descending branches, legitimate or natural [child out-of-wedlock], and the kindred in the same line.
Article 162. In the collateral line, marriage is prohibited between brother and sister, legitimate or natural, and kindred of the same degree.
Article 163. Marriage is further prohibited between the uncle and the niece, the aunt and the nephew.
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