Impediments to marriage as an emanation of the social perception of marriage: A comparative legal analysis of the Napoleonic Code (1804) and the Louisiana Digest (1808)

Abstract

The comparative legal analysis of impediments to marriage in two related models — the French, based on the Napoleonic Code (1804), and that of the state of Louisiana, based on the Digests (1808) — makes it possible to identify three features of the societies of the time living in the two jurisdictions. The author relies on the assumption that legal text is an emanation of social views. Firstly, both societies were committed to the principles of Roman law and Christian tradition. Secondly, French society considered the family, especially the father, to be the decision-maker in the matter of marriage, in contrast to Louisiana society, which did not attach any serious consequences to the lack of parental consent to marriage. Thirdly, in Louisiana, the institution of impediments to marriage was used to preserve the culturally homogeneous composition of the Creole elite, whereas in Napoleonic France, an analogous problem did not exist.