The Napoleonic Code and Its Reception in the Duchy of Warsaw

Abstract

One of the most remarkable accomplishments of the Napoleonic era was the Code Civile - the Napoleonic Code. It was a crowning achievement of the ideological evolution
that followed the French Revolution in its outlook on the functioning of private law. The author presents the reception of the Code in the days of the Duchy of Warsaw. We can observe that, despite the first enthusiasm for French socio-legal solutions, the first critical assessments of those regulations appeared in the Duchy of Warsaw. The first rupture became apparent when the Code was introduced. Members of the Council of State, most
notably its chairman Stanislaw Malachowski and his successor Ludwik Gutakowski, spoke out against the expeditious implementation of French solutions by Justice Minister Feliks Lubienski. It is symptomatic that the political élite largely opposed the Code. However, the opposition was suppressed, and the Code was introduced, but Malachowski had to step down. An important opponent of the French solutions was the highest hierarchy of the
Catholic Church, headed by Archbishop Raczynski. For the clergy, it was unacceptable to introduce a divorce system and to make priests civil registrars providing services to Jews or non-believers, among others. However, the above voices were “quiet” and a major part of the élite was essentially enchanted with Napoleon.