Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Great Codifications
- Pre-Napoleonic codifications
- NORDIC Codes during the 1600s (which were never subsequently updated)
- GERMANIC PRINCIPALITIES prior to unification
- ITALIAN PRINCIPALITIES prior to unification
- AUSTRIAN Code of 1811 based on a compromise between
natural law and reason, inspired by Enlightenment philosophy
- Napoleonic Codification 1804
- Law was too regionally diverse (North = custom, South = Roman law)
- The Revolution necessitated the legal incorporation of new principles, liberties and rights
- Political stability after a period of serious turmoil marked a fruitful time for legislating
- The expansion of the Napoleonic Empire increased the desire to legislate for all peoples for all time
- 5 key codes:
(A) Civil Code
(B) Penal Code
(C) Code of
Civil Procedure
(D) Code of
Criminal
Procedure (E)
Commercial
code
- Exceptional and inspirational use abroad, imposed either by military
occupation or conquest. Sometimes received and adopted voluntarily due to
its outstanding qualities. Copied or partially transplanted around the world.
- German BGB 1896-1900
- Napoleon's work had prompted serious discussions about codification's worth on a
methodological level and how it might be improved to fit more easily within the Germanic
system more akin to conceptual thinking
- Of course, codification wasn't possible until the unification of Germany after the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. After this point, it was much easier to codify law
and apply it throughout a single, united but federal territory.
- BGB is a long work, with 5 books and a 'Russian doll'-like structure - it was praised for its more scientific approach to law
- It was aimed primarily at professors, and not at practitioners. Even today it remains virtually inaccessible for non-initiated readers
- It is debatably more Romanic than Germanic in its tendencies, its greatest innovation being the "General Part".
- Because it was written almost a century after the French code, it was more suited to industrialised
societies in which commerce would play a pivotal role. It overtook the French model in terms of
implementation abroad, and inspired similar Civil Codes in JAPAN, BRAZIL and GREECE.
- Swiss Codification 1907
- A Code of Obligations was introduced in 1881. This was the only piece of legislation that could be
applied throughout the 'cantons' who at the time were part of a federal state.
- When the power of the state was increased vis-à-vis the cantons, the State
introduced a Civil Code that would deal with all other obligations that had not already
been legislated upon in the Code of Obligations.
- The Code of Obligations is hence seen as the Fifth Book of the Civil Code.
- Its most innovative feature was the fusion of commercial and
civil law. This was the result of a joint influence from the BGB
and the scholars Gény and Hubert.
- The Code was part of a legal transplant to the Turkish secular system introduced in the 1920s.
- Italian Codification 1942
- Prior to unification, Italian law was highly influenced by French law. In some city states, the Code Napoléon was applicable.
- This close relationship continued at the end of WW1, when the French and Italians sought to create a joint civil code.
- This project was abandoned as the Italian regime changed in nature (Fascist) and orientation (pro-German).
- Eventually, the Code adopted by the Fascists was strongly influenced by the Nazi regime.
- The code merges civil and commercial law through the notion of 'impresa'.
This inspired the new Brazilian Civil Code in 2002.
- The code survived the Fascist regime and, aside from a few
articles and concepts which have been removed, remains in place
despite serious changes to the political landscape since 1943.