What were the advantages and disadvantages of the Napoleonic code?

Advantages:

  • Established equality before law.
  • Abolished all privileges based on birth.
  • Simplified administrative divisions.
  • Granted the right to property to French citizens.
  • Abolished feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom.
  • Eliminated restrictions on guilds in town.
  • Made efforts to improve transport and communication.

But this initial enthusiasm soon turned into hostility and opposition when it became visible that the new administrative arrangements do not go hand in hand with the political freedom. Censorship, taxation, forced conscription into the French armies required to conquer the rest of Europe, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of the administrative changes.