This book charts the formation of the French Civil Code, examining both its public and private effects.

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, French private law was very different in the various parts of the country. In northern and central France, there were as many as sixty-five general customs in force, as well as over three hundred local customs, often differing from them in detail. As the feeling of nationhood grew, so did the idea of replacing the existing variety of laws by a single private law, possibly a code, common to all of France. 'A single body of law, called...