The Influence of the French Penal Code of 1810 on the Belgian Penal Code of 1867: Between Continuity and Innovation

Abstract

As soon as Belgium became independent, a will to reform the Napoleon Penal Code of 1810 emerged. In 1848, a reform commission initiated the reform process that will lead to the new Penal Code of 1867. Under the impetus of J.J. Haus, a penalist from the Ghent University, the revision process took a rather abstract and technical direction. Influenced by the dominating neoclassical penal thought, the new Penal Code of 1867 does not mark a clear rupture with the imperial Code of 1810. The text oscillates between reform and continuity, with a specific wish to correct the punitive excesses of the earlier text.