Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/161

125 i NAPOLEON AND HIS CODE 125 Napoleon had also studied ^ Montesquieu, and although he did not accept all of the latter's political philosophy he could hardly have escaped (and evidently did not) the influence of writings of whose author it has been said: "He is the first to conceive of the law as a true science, to identify its method with that of the natural sciences, to discover the laws of the growth of law, and to subsimie all its facts within the boundaries of general formulae. His scheme may have since been perfected as to detail; but the conception has remaiaed the same; it has never been improved upon. And besides propounding this broad truth, in his 'Esprit des lois' (1748) he touched upon the essential points, and sug- gested the concrete solutions of the futiue. No more entails (for they hamper economic progress); no more mortmains (for the clergy is a family which should not multiply) ; fewer rent-charges and more money- loans, — such was his program for property-law. For the law of persons, no more serfdom (for agriculture depends less on fertiHty of soil than on liberty of its occupants). For family law, no more indis- soluble marriages. The law of successions should be preserved, on grounds of political welfare. For procedure, he advocates less of formality, more of conciseness and simplicity. Such was his enhghtened forecast." ^ Finally it was one of the secrets of Napoleon's greatness that he constantly utilized his time in some valuable direction. He was always a busy man. From his earhest youth until he went to St. Helena he lacked leisure, but he had a way of getting the most out of his associates. He was fond, in his campaigns, of taking specialists, jurists included, with him, and when on the march or in camp, while not actually engaged in battle, he had these men around him, questioning them, discussing their specialties with them and thus replenishing his own store directly from the best minds of his day. It was by utilizing the unusual situations and by making the most of his odd moments that Napoleon gathered legal knowledge. And this process continued even during these dehberations. As he debated he learned from those about him and he was not like one convinced against his will. Upon one occasion he acknowledged: KENTAL Legal History Series, 438. « lid.
 * 3 CoREESPO^a5ANCE, 313 (No. 2223), letter of September 19, 1797; 2 Conti-