Editing Napoleonic Code (section)

===Napoleonic reforms===
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2011}}
Napoleon's victory at the [[Battle of Marengo]] allowed him to consolidate his power in France.<ref>Hollins, ''Encyclopedia'', pp. 605–606.</ref> Returning to Paris, he appointed on 12 August 1800 a commission of distinguished jurists and politicians, including {{ill|Jacques de Maleville|simple|Jacques de Maleville|fr|Jacques de Maleville}}, [[François Denis Tronchet]], [[Félix-Julien-Jean Bigot de Préameneu]], [[Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis]] to draft a civil code.<ref>Zamoyski, Adam, ''Napoleon: A Life'',"Caesar"</ref> For this commission, Cambacérès (now Second Consul), and Napoleon himself chaired the plenary sessions.<ref name=Foot01/> After this process finished, the Code was sent to the [[Legislative Body]] as a preliminary bill in December 1801, where it was rejected by a vote of 142 to 139.<ref name=Foot02/> In response, Napoleon announced on 2 January 1802 that he was suspending all projects, effectively closing the assemblies' sessions; simultaneously, he went to the [[Sénat conservateur]] to berate its members. These tactics cowed the legislature into submission, and gave Napoleon the majority he needed.<ref>Zamoyski, Adam, ''Napoleon: A Life'',"Peace"</ref> The code finally came into effect on 21 March 1804.<ref name=Foot03/>

The process developed mainly out of the various customs,{{what|date=June 2023}} but was inspired by Justinian's sixth-century codification of [[Roman law]], the ''[[Corpus Juris Civilis]]'' and, within that, Justinian's Code (''Codex''). The Napoleonic Code, however, differed from Justinian's in important ways: 
* it incorporated all kinds of earlier rules, not just legislation; 
* it was not a collection of edited extracts, but a comprehensive rewrite; 
* its structure was much more rational; 
* it had no religious content
* it was written in the [[vernacular]].

The Napoleonic Code marked a fundamental change in the nature of the [[civil law (legal system)|civil law legal system]], making laws clearer and [[rule of law|more accessible]]. It also superseded the former conflict between royal legislative power and, particularly in the final years before the Revolution, protests by judges representing views and privileges of the social classes to which they belonged. Such conflict led the Revolutionaries to take a negative view of judges making law.

This is reflected in the Napoleonic Code provision prohibiting judges from deciding a case by way of introducing a general rule (Article 5), since the creation of general rules is an exercise of [[Legislature|legislative]] and not of [[Judiciary|judicial power]]. In theory, there is thus no [[case law]] in France. However, the courts still had to fill in the gaps in the laws and regulations and, indeed, were prohibited from refusing to do so (Article 4). Moreover, both the code and legislation have required judicial interpretation. Thus a vast body of case law has come into existence, but without any rule of ''[[Precedent|stare decisis]]''.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}