In order to abolish the legal pluralism of the Ancien Régime and to establish legal unity based on law, the revolutionary constitution of 1791 called for the promulgation of a uniform Code civil (“civil code”; see also Private law). Four drafts were prepared from 1791 to 1799, three of which by Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès; none of them were accepted. The fact that France finally codified the Code civil in 1804 is due to the efforts of the French Consulate to bring stab…