ion, brought forward two
successive schemes for the Code Civil. As a member of one of the
councils, he drew up a third under the Directory, and these projected
forms came in turn nearer and nearer to what was to be the ultimate form
of the code. So great was the interest centred in this work, that the
law of the 19th Brumaire, year VIII., which, in ratification of the
previous day's _coup d'etat_ nominated provisional consuls and two
legislative commissions, gave injunctions to the latter to draw up a
scheme for the Code Civil. This was done in part by one of the members,
Jacqueminot, and finally under the constitution of the year VIII., the
completion of the work was taken in hand. The legislative machinery
established by this constitution, defective as it was in other respects,
was eminently suited for this task. Indeed, all projected laws emanated
from the government and were prepared by the newly established council
of state, which was so well recruited that it easily furnished qualified
men, mostly veterans of the revolution, to prepare the final scheme. The
council of state naturally possessed in its legislative section and its
general assembly bodies both competent and sufficiently limited to
discuss the texts efficiently. The _corps legislatif_ had not the right
of amendment, so could not disturb the harmony of the scheme. It was in
the discussions of the general assembly of the council of state that
Napoleon took part, in 97 cases out of 102 in the capacity of chairman,
but, interesting as his observations occasionally are, he cannot be
considered as a serious collaborator in this great work.

Those responsible for the scheme have in the main been very successful
in their work; they have generally succeeded in fusing the two elements
which they had to deal with, namely ancient French law, and that of the
Revolution. The point in which their work is comparatively weak is the
system of hypothec (q.v.), because they did not succeed in steering a
middle course between two opposite systems, and the law of the 23rd of
March 1855 (_sur la transcription en matiere hypothecaire_) was
necessary to make good the deficiency. A fault frequently found with the
Code Civil is that its general divisions show a lack of logic and
method, but the division is practically that of the Institutes of
Justinian, and is about as good as any other: persons, things,
inheritance, contracts and obligations, and finally, in place of
actions,