COMPARATIVE LAW
W.B. Fisch, Winter 1999
Assignment #8
The Intellectual Revolution
The French
Parlements
what were their official functions?
who were members and how chosen?
what role did they play in the pre-revolutionary period?
in what way did they conflict with the King in that period?
Elements of the intellectual revolution
what were the principal values of the French revolution
in terms of structure and function of government?
in terms of the private law?
what was the role of natural law theory in revolutionary thinking?
The French Civil Code
what were the principal goals of the codification?
unification
implementation of revolutionary ideology
accessibility
control of judicial discretion
how are these goals reflected in the code itself? (excerpts p. 452)
art. 7 and role of prior law
art. 5 and role of judicial decision
basic principles of property law
basic principles of contract law
question 1 p. 452: compare French and American revolutions on relationship between law and rights: what does the quoted statement mean?