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[[File:Jacques-Louis David - The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries - Google Art Project.jpg|thumbnail|left|Napoleonic Civil CodeNapoleon in his Study in the Tuileries]]
The French Civil Code<ref>Commonly also referred to as Napoleonic code</ref> was enacted on March 21, 1804. The Code represents a comprehensive reformation and codification of the French civil law and was considered by Napoleon himself to be one of his most significant achievements. Nowadays it remains a strong legal, sociological and cultural landmark for the French nation. And in spite of some revisions that were introduced later, the Napoleonic code is still very applicable in the French Republic and Law today.
==Origins of the Civil Code and forces behind codification==
[[Jacqueshttp://dailyhistory.org/images/f/f0/640px-Louis_David_Speyer_%28DerHexer%29_2010-_The_Emperor_Napoleon_in_His_Study_at_the_Tuileries_12-_Google_Art_Project19_051.jpg |left|thumbnail|250px|Napoleon in his Study in the Tuileries]]
The main instigator for the promulgation of the Civil Code was Napoleon Bonaparte, the first Consul of France. However, the demand for codification and clarification itself precede the Napoleonic era. Diversity of laws was the dominant characteristic of the pre-revolutionary legal order. Roman law governed in the south of France, whereas in the northern provinces<ref>including Paris</ref> a customary law had developed and dominated, based largely on feudal Frankish and Germanic institutions. Marriage and family were entirely under the control of the Roman Catholic Church and its cannon law. In addition, a wide range of matters were governed by royal decrees and ordinances as well as by case law.
