French Penal Code of 1810

This code served as a basis for criminal laws in many of the countries occupied at the time by the First French Empire.

The initial move towards a new, cohesive French civil code was made in July 1800, when First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte appointed a four-man commission composed of Portalis, Tronchet, Bigot de Preamneneu, and Malleville to draft a project.

[4] An important feature of these two texts, which came after centuries of relentless severity, was to have fixed penalties to keep the role of judge strictly distributive, therefore eliminating the dangers of arbitrary sentencing.

[5] With the 1810 Penal Code, however, the sentences were given a set range, letting the judges decide more freely on the severity of the punishment.

Forfeiture of estate, lifelong transportation or banishment for a term between five and ten years were available for crimes against the state (which included treason, espionage, sedition and insurrection, and were severely punished, up to death with forfeiture of the convict's estate, or transportation).