He widened the area of French citizenship; above all, he strengthened the structure of the family by enhancing the father's authority.

Herein his Corsican instincts and the requirements of statecraft led him to undo much of the legislation of the revolutionists.

Their ideal was individual liberty: his aim was to establish public order by autocratic methods.

They had sought to make of the family a little republic, founded on the principles of liberty and equality; but in the new code the paternal authority reappeared no less strict, albeit less severe in some details than that of the _ancien regime._ The family was thenceforth modelled on the idea dominant in the State, that authority and responsible action pertained to a single individual.

The father controlled the conduct of his children: his consent was necessary for the marriage of sons up to their twenty-fifth year, for that of daughters up to their twenty-first year; and other regulations were framed in the same spirit.[162] Thus there was rebuilt in France the institution of the family on an almost Roman basis; and these customs, contrasting sharply with the domestic anarchy of the Anglo-Saxon race, have had a mighty influence in fashioning the character of the French, as of the other Latin peoples, to a ductility that yields a ready obedience to local officials, drill-sergeants, and the central Government.
In other respects Bonaparte's influence on the code was equally potent.