M2 T3 Codification Flashcards
What is one of the main characteristics of the continental law?
Codification. Law as a primary source embodied in codes
When did we see the first codification?
19th century
What are the two most important codifications?
The French Codification 1804
The German Codification 1900
The French civil code is also known as the Napoleonic code as…
It was developed thanks to Napoleon’s personal effort. He played an active role in drawing up the code, and due to his personal life, juridical techniques should never prevail over the realities of life.
Ex: some provisions derived from his personal needs such s institution of adoption and divorce.
What is the ideological basis of the Napoleonic code?
1789: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen during the French Revolution. The will to constitute France as a constitutional state. The state identified with the law.
How did the reforms of the establishment of the constitutional state of France affect politics, administrations, and the judiciary system?
Power to be legitimate: originate within human-decision making
Unification of justice and administrative centralization.
Need for a simple and clear coded of law to be applied to the whole of France.
What are the there main sources of the Napoleonic code?
- Roman law, known as written law.
- Consuetudinary (customary law)
- Enlightenment ideals that gave the rise to the French Revolution principles of equality, secularisation, and respect for the law.
What was the nature of the 1804 French civil code?
moderate work with a spirit of compromise
How was the style of the Napoleonic code?
- Simple direct language. to be read by all
- Technical imprecision. Lack technological exactitude
- A literary work of art. Elegant language
How was the Napoleonic code structured?
Heterogeneous
Book one: Concerning persons
Book two: concerning goods and the different variations of property
Book three. Concerning the different means of acquiring property
Which social group ideals did the Napoleonic code pursue?
The bourgeois society.
Did the Napoleonic code have a large effect on the international legal scene in the 19th century?
Yes
The Napoleonic code represented a solution to….
The juridical insecurity suffered at the time
Why did the Napoleonic code have a large effect on the international legal scene?
due to enlightenment, western civilization possessed an intellectual identity, influencing all spheres of knowledge
What territories did the Napoleonic code influence?
- Territorial expansion of Napoleonic France
- Land conquered by the empire
- Other European states
- French colonial dominions
When did the German parliament pass the German civil code, BGB; and when did it enter into force?
passed: 1896
Into force: 1900
What did the Germans, that shared language and cultural traditions, not have in common up until the foundation of the Reich in 1871?
common political or administrative institutions
What traditions were predominant in Germany prior to the codification of the BGB?
Customary law. Particular, local laws.
Thanks to which school of law was the BGB undertaken?
The “modern” school of Natural law
What are the two main ideological bases for the BGB?
- The modern school of Natural law
- Contributedkey concepts of legal act and declaration of will. Rationalized law, systematized in accordance with reason and order. - Historical school of law of the 18th century
- Main ideological basis
Between who was the background for the codification of German law debated in 1814, and what did they each argue?
- Thibaut
- BGB should follow the French code - Savigny
- No need for codification as law is a natural part of cultural identity and evolves with society
What is the style of the BGB?
Unlike the french code, the language is technical and has no literary intention. It was drawn up by and for legal specialists and is a masterwork of coherence, abstraction, and dogmatic precision.
What is the content of the BGB?
Similar to the French code. It gives priority to the interests of the bourgeoisie and guarantees the rights of property and family.
What is one of the main contributions of the BGB?
categorisation of juridical concepts.
According to Pandectics pyramid;
Particular institutions form the foundation and abstract general principles above this.
Why did the BGB have less influence in practice than the Napoleonic code?
Due to the conceptual and terminological complexity, as well as the fact that by 1900, most countries already hade a civil code and did not need to adopt another.
To where did the BGB spread?
European nation-states that arose after the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Baltic states, Switzerland, Greece.
China, Japan, Brazil and other countries in the world
What did the 19th-century codification represent?
The last shared development of continental legal tradition
