French Legal History
Ancien Régime Law: Custom, Roman Law, and the Parlements
The law of the Ancien Régime (Old Regime) in France, from the Middle Ages until the Revolution of 1789, was characterised by legal diversity, with different legal systems applying in different …
French Revolution Legal Reforms: Abolition of Feudalism and the Declaration of 1789
The French Revolution (1789-1799) transformed the French legal system, abolishing the institutions of the Ancien Régime and establishing the principles of modern French law. The Revolution introduced …
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 …
Vichy Regime Law (1940-1944)
Law Under the Vichy Regime The Vichy regime (Régime de Vichy), formally the État français (French State), governed France from 10 July 1940 to August 1944 following the military defeat by Nazi …