Part 3. The european law in the 19th century: napoleon's code

Vocabulary list

1. the Napoleonic Code

2. clearly written and accessible law

3. to replace feudal laws

4. to enact

   1. enactment

5. to reform legal system

   1. legal reforms

6. to abolish

7. to treat all citizens as equals

8. to derive from English common law

9. to be in force

Developing Skills

1.1. Match the halves from the list A (1-6) with their possible endings (the list B, a-f) to make word combinations.

A	B
old feudal	Code
a pan-European	Europe
a comprehensive	customs
local	laws
continental	scope
the Napoleon's	rewrite

1.2. Use the English word combinations from 1.1 in the following sentences. Change the verb / noun form where necessary.

1. The laws of much of the ________ (particularly France), of Quebec in Canada, and of much of Latin America – along with the civil laws of the state of Louisiana (the USA) – owe their modern form largely to Napoleon Bonaparte.

2. The Corsican soldier who became emperor of France after the French Revolution, established in 1800 five commissions to refine and organise the diverse legal systems of France; the result, enacted in 1804, was _______.

3. Napoleon set to reform the French legal system in accordance with the ideas of the French Revolution, because the ______ seemed confusing and contradictory to the people.

4. Before the Code, France did not have a single set of laws; law consisted mainly of ________, which had sometimes been officially compiled in "customals".

5. The Napoleonic Code was the first modern legal code to be adopted with _______, and it strongly influenced the law of many of the countries formed during and after the Napoleonic Wars.

6. The categories of the Napoleonic Code were inspired by Justinian's sixth-century codification of Roman law; however, it was not a collection of edited extracts, but _______.

2. Guess the term by its definition.

to reform; exemption; the Act of Union 1707; enactment; acquisition; Corpus Juris Civilis law

1. the body of Roman or civil law consolidated by Justinian in the 6th century AD; it consists of four parts: the Institutes, Digest, Code, and Novels;

2. A). the process in a parliament or other law-making body by which the law is agreed upon and made official;

B). a law that is passed;

3. to improve (an existing institution, law, practice, etc.) by alteration or correction of abuses;

4. the act by which Scotland was joined with England to form Great Britain;

5. the action of freeing or state of being free from an obligation or liability imposed on others;

6. an asset or object bought or obtained