The Image of the Population of the Illyrian Provinces in the Documents of the French Administration Related to the Legal Reform Projects
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The article presents the issue of the depiction of the inhabitants of the Illyrian Provinces in documents produced by the French administration of this part of the First French Empire which were related to plans to implement legal reforms, primarily the abolition of feudalism and the introduction of the Napoleonic Code. The analysis carried out proves that the extraordinary legal and political complexity of both the whole of the Illyrian Provinces and their individual parts was reflected in the differences in the description of the populations living there. In the case of the territories whose traditions were more in line with Western European political and legal traditions, French observers did not delve too deeply into the social conditions that would be important in the course of implementing new legal solutions. However, e.g. in the case of Vlach shepherd communities living in inland Dalmatia the French administrators were forced to supplement their considerations regarding the implementation of the Napoleonic Code with an extensive study on the character of those populations.
Source: Res Historica
Author: Wojciech Sajkowski
Institution: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4406217777