Guyot D. The Napoleon Code: Past and Future

Abstract: Contemporary tendencies in the development of civil law as well as its unification from the point of view of a French legal scholar and lawyer are described in this article. Author examines characteristic features of the legal regulation of civil relations in the French Civil code (also known as Napoleon code) and influence of these features upon the development of the French case law and doctrine. It is pointed out that, in spite of a widespread opinion, legal tools for protection of civil rights, which are made available by means of the civil law countries’ codified legislation, are in no way inferior in terms of resilience to those provided for in the common law countries, based on case authority. The perspectives of All-European unification of civil law by means of the adoption of sole European civil code are critically estimated. By the example of France the author stresses the necessity of safeguarding the national legal tradition and of careful attendance on the distinctive legal legally of each country, in order not to allow the substitution of notions, when, instead uniting Europe in practice the attempts are made to unify it. When writing this article the author used the works of both French and Russian legal scholars.

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