Chapter 19: Legal and administrative change

• Codification?

  Organising and collecting the laws of a country into a simplified "law code".
• Civil law?

  Law surrounding relations between members of a community
• Criminal law?

  Law concerned with punishing offenders to protect society
• Benefits of codification?

  It standardised the legal system, and clarified the law after the tumultuous revolutionary years
• The 1804 Civil Code?

  Created by a committee of legal experts, under the supervision of Cambaceres. The committee contained a combination of lawyers from the north, which used customary law, and lawyers from the south, where Roman law was applied
• Tribunate criticism of the 1804 Civil Code?

  They claimed it went against revolutionary principals
• Key aspects of the revised "Code Napoleon" of 1807?

  Confirmed revolutionary changes, such as the abolition of feudalism and Church privilege, the secularisation of the State and equality before the law. It also supported the bourgeoisie by confirming the rights of the purchasers of the biens nationaux, and renewing the ban on trade unions
• Male-orientated policies in the Code Napoleon?

  The father or husband was the head of the family and female inheritance rights were restricted
• Divorce?

  The husband could divorce his wife for adultery, but the wife could only do the same if the act of adultery was committed in the family home
• Partage?

  A system where 75% of property had to be equally distributed across all legitimate offspring
• Primogeniture?

  System of inheritance during the Ancien Regime, where only the eldest son inherited the father's property
• 1806 code on civil procedure?

  Standardised court practices
• 1807 commercial code?

  Provided guidelines for trade and business, including debt and bankruptcy
• 1808 code on criminal procedure?

  Permitted juries to be chosen by prefects for major cases, and allowed arrest without trial
• Jury d'accusation?

  A double jury system. It disappeared in 1811, as Napoleon deemed the system too English
• Parricide?

  Killing a parent or close relative
• 1810 penal code?

  The death penalty was permitted for murderers, arsonists and forgers, as well as hard labour and branding for lesser crimes. Maximum and minimum penalties were introduced, replacing the fixed penalties of the Ancien Regime
• Electing legal professionals?

  The Constitution of Year VIII made it so all judges were appointed, rather than elected. The exception was local magistrates, although even this was phased out in 1802, and term limits for magistrates were extended from 3 to 10 years
• Appointment of judges?

  They were appointed for life. Initially, the Senate chose judges for the Cour de Cassation from a list of notables, and Napoleon selected the judges for the lower courts from departmental lists. From 1802, Napoleon abandoned the lists and made direct appoints
• Cour de Cassation?

  The highest appeal court
• Procureurs imperiaux?

  Government commissioners
• Special courts?

  Established in 1801 for the suppression of brigandage. These courts had no jury and could impose the death penalty
• Who did Napoleon appoint as judges?

  Well-trained men. Many had served during the revolutionary years. Personnel were occasionally purged
• Amount of departements in the Empire?

  1799 - 102

  1811 - 130
• Issues with the local elected councils of the revolutionary system?

  The local councils did not have much money, and there was a lack of communication between the councils and central government
• Prefects?

  Agents responsible for carrying out central authority in the departements, similar to the intendants of the Ancien Regime. They were appointed by Napoleon and ensured that conscription, tax collection, agriculture, industry and more were functioning properly in their departement. They wore uniforms and were expected to report suspicious behaviour and spread propaganda
• Who did Napoleon appoint as prefects?

  Moderate men who had a talent for administration. 68% had been employed by former revolutionary governments, and most were bourgeoisie or former nobility
• Five branches of local government?

  Civil administration - under the Ministry of the Interior

  Courts - under the Ministry of Justice

  Gendarmerie - under the War Ministry

  Civilian/administrative police - under the Ministry of General Police

  Tax bureau - under the Ministry of Finance
• Napoleon's inherited police forces?

  The gendarmerie and the administrative police
• The gendarmerie?

  A police force of army veterans who were at least 1.75 metres tall. They dealt with regular law enforcement, as well as putting down rebellions and enforcing conscription
• Gendarmes in the community?

  Each community had a small brigade of gendarmes. The gendarmes lived separately from those they policed, wore uniforms and carried rifles
• The administrative police?

  They were responsible for general surveillance. They gathered information on suspicious individuals and were generally professional
• Commissaire de police?

  An officer appointed to every town that had a population over 5000. They worked under the departement's prefect, but were also allowed to communicate with the Ministry of General Police
• Who was in charge of the Ministry of General Police?

  Up to 1810, Fouche ran the Ministry of General Police, when he was replaced by Savary
• Savary?

  He was chief of Napoleon's personal bodyguard and he orchestrated the kidnapping of the duc d'Enghien in 1804. He was made Minister of Police in 1810
• How many people were detained in Parisian prisons between 1810-1814?

  Around 4600
• The Surete?

  Founded in 1812 as a department of criminal investigation
• Vincennes?

  A notorious prison during the Ancien Regime
• Napoleon's attitude to crime at the end of the Empire?

  By 1810, Napoleon expected his Empire to not only punish crime, but prevent it before it happened. This meant increased surveillance, permanently exiling problematic figures, and banning dangerous literature