Even before Napoleon rose to power, after the collapse of the monarchy, the population of France needed codification
Pre-revolution, the laws changed. In northern france, it was a form of frankish and germanic law- more customary. in southern france, it was more of a roman law marriage and family law was in the roman catholic churches control voltaire: “changes his law almost as often as he changes his horses.” after the revolution, codification was needed since the guilds, manors and churches lost political power and the provinces had become subdivisions of the “national state”
The napoleonic code was made to be a purely rational law that had moral justification that came from reason and logic
“its moral justification was to be found not