Importing ‘Alien’ or ‘Enlightened’ Law: Understanding the Partial Diffusion of the Code Napoléon in the Confederation of the Rhine

Abstract

This chapter provides a case study of the diffusion of the Napoleonic Code to the German states. After a short history of the elaboration and adoption of the Napoleonic Code in France, the chapter provides an in-depth analysis of its specific interest as an unusual case of Franco-German diffusion. Unlike other French norms introduced in Germany during the Napoleonic Wars, the Napoleonic Code was not subject to a coercive form of diffusion, and its adoption remained largely on a voluntary basis. Nevertheless, the code was imported (and in most cases tailored to the local context) by most German states, and it remained in force in some territories even as late as 1900, date of the national promulgation of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (civil code). In the Rhine province of Prussia, citizens even staged public demonstrations to resists the abolishment of the Napoleonic Code as late as 1843. To explain this extraordinary diffusion success despite the emergence of Franco-German conflict after the defeat of Napoleon, the principal diffusion agents—such as law experts and influential interest groups—are presented. The primary role of such local elites in the diffusion process, as well as the use of non-coercive diffusion mechanisms such as communicative learning and role-model emulation, is presented as the reasons of the perceived legitimacy of the Napoleonic Code and its acceptance by local power politics between traditional and new social elites.