Industry and Labor under Napoleon

Abstract

HISTORIANS have long recognized that the Napoleonic period had an important influence on the institutions of France and Europe. The Code Napoleon is still in force in many European states and in other parts of the world. The Legion of Honor continues to reward Frenchmen for their achievements. The administrative system of Napoleon still governs the French people. His concordat of iSoo regulated the relations of church and state until 1905. He put vitality into the conscription law of I798 and forced that institution on the other states of Europe. He employed and popularized the institution known as the plebiscite, which has been used since his time for many purposes. One important institution of the Napoleonic period, however, seems to have received scant attention from all historians save a few lawyers who have specialized in labor law. It is the de prud'homnmnes, or committee of masters and men, composed of manufacturers and workers in various industries, elected by their peers, and charged with the task of terminating by conciliation or by judicial action industrial disputes between employers and their employees. It is of interest as an early illustration of democracy in industry and as the institution which filled, in a sense, the gap between the guild system of the ancien regime and the modern trade union. It made France the first modern state to have a court for industry. The conseil de prtud'hommes was based on two principles: specialization and equality. As the council was made up of industrial manufacturers and employees, it was competent to judge industrial disputes; and since the parties to disputes had virtually equal representation, the principle of equality was fairly well observed. The conseil de thus provided a practical method for handling industrial disputes.1 The name prud'hommes was used to a certain extent in France before the period of Napoleon. It is derived from the Latin term prudentes homines and was used in France at least as early as the fifteenth century. In I462, apparently, the king established at Marseilles a council, the members of