French Legal History
Legal Reforms of the French Revolution (1789–1799)
The Abolition of Feudalism The French Revolution’s legal transformation began on the night of August 4, 1789, when the National Assembly, in a session of extraordinary drama, voted to abolish …
The Development of French Administrative Law
The Revolutionary Origins: The Prohibition of Judicial Review of Administration The origins of French administrative law lie in the Revolution’s profound distrust of the judiciary. The …
The Droit Intermédiaire: Revolutionary Law Between the Ancien Régime and the Napoleonic Code
Defining the Droit Intermédiaire The droit intermédiaire designates the body of law enacted in France between the meeting of the Estates-General in 1789 and the promulgation of the Napoleonic Code in …
The Napoleonic Codification
The Pre-Codification Legal Landscape Before the Napoleonic codification, France was a nation divided by law. The territory was split between the pays de droit écrit (regions of written law) in the …