French Penal Code of 1810

The French Penal Code of 1810 was the criminal law framework enacted under Napoleon on June 3, 1810, replacing the earlier code of 1791 and reinstating life imprisonment and branding as punishments that the 1791 code had abolished. It applied across the territory of the First French Empire and divided offenses into three tiers, minor violations punishable by fines or up to five days in prison, misdemeanors punishable by up to five years imprisonment and fines, and felonies punishable by penalties ranging from hard labor to death by guillotine. It did not criminalize heresy, sodomy or blasphemy, but it made abortion illegal and imposed stricter divorce procedures for women, and it remained in force for nearly two centuries until a new French criminal code took effect on March 1, 1994. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/