The Betrayal of the French Civil Code: A Tragedy in Three Acts
The Betrayal of the French Civil Code: A Tragedy in Three Acts
Author(s): James GordleySubject(s): History, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Civil Law, Modern Age, 19th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: French Civil Code; lésion; injury; cause; liberalism; abuse of rights
Summary/Abstract: French jurists have thought that their Civil Code expresses an individualism characteristic of the ideals of the French Revolution and the principles of liberalism. Property was regarded as a right of the owner that was unlimited in principle. Contract was defined in terms of the will of the parties to contract on whatever terms they chose. The drafters of the Code, however, were among the last adherents of an older natural law tradition in which the rights of an owner were limited by the purposes for which property rights were created, and the terms of a contract must be just. This article describes the drafter’s debt to that tradition and how it was ignored by jurists in the 19th century.
Journal: Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i Prawa
- Issue Year: 16/2023
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 163-180
- Page Count: 18
- Language: English