The Napoleonic Code

In March 1804 France promulgated the Civil Code, later known as the Napoleonic Code. Drafted by a commission of jurists, with Bonaparte attending many sessions, it replaced hundreds of local legal customs with a single body of civil law for all of France. It confirmed key revolutionary gains: equality before the law, the end of feudal privileges, freedom of conscience, secular civil marriage and the protection of private property. Yet it also reflected conservative values.

Married women were placed under their husbands' authority, and fathers held strong power over children; divorce was made harder. The Code was exported to territories under French control and influenced legal systems in much of Europe, Latin America and beyond. Historians weigh it as both a consolidation of the Revolution's principles of equality and a step back for women's rights compared with the 1790s.