The French Revolution 1789 as Background for the Development of Human Rights

The French Revolution of 1789 is the most important event in modern history. Whilst in Europe the Revolution in the first three and a half years was regarded as a mere change of the competences of the monarchic power. The execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793 and the following terroristic politics by the leftwing “sansculottes” shattered the monarchies in whole Europe, which feared their collapse. In the field of legislation, the monarchs tried to realize some liberal ideas (in order to push back too many revolutionary ideas). The first country to act was Prussia, which regulated the civil law (“Allgemeines Landrecht” for the Prussian states of 1794). Austria created the “Allgemeines Gesetzbuch” which was inaugurated in 1811. France was given by Napoleon the Code civil (1804). In all legislations, political rights were not guaranteed – they referred only to the economic field. In the times of absolute monarchies, political rights had no place. These three codifications were a compromise between the uprising liberal ideas (personal freedom, propriety rights, etc.) and the principle of the old corporate society (inequality, “Ständestaat”). They lasted for centuries. The CC of 1804 (in its necessary reforms) is valid in France till nowadays, as well as the Austrian “Allgemeines Gesetzbuch”. The Prussian “Allgemeines Landrecht” was valid in the Prussian parts of Germany till 1900, before the “Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB)” for the German Reich was coming into force.