As to private law, both civil and commercial, we could enumerate between 1871 and 1906 more than a hundred laws which have modified it, sometimes profoundly, and have for the most part done very useful work without attracting much attention. They are generally examined and drawn up by commissions of competent men, and pass both chambers almost without discussion. There have, however, been a few which aroused public interest and even deep feeling. Firstly, there was the law of the 27th of July 1884, and those which completed it; this law re-established divorce, which had been abolished since 1816, but only permitted it for certain definite causes determined by law. On the other hand, the law of the 6th of February 1893 increased the liberty and independence of a woman who was simply judicially separated, in order to encourage separation, as opposed to divorce, when the conditions allowed it. The law of the 25th of March 1896 on the succession of illegitimate children, who were recognized by the parents, treated them not in the same way as legitimate children, but gave them the title of heirs in the succession of their father and mother, together with much greater rights than they had possessed under the _Code Civil_. The law of the 24th of July 1899, on the protection of children who are ill-treated or morally neglected, also modified some of the provisions of the law as applied to the family, with a view to greater justice and humanity. Finally, on the occasion of the centenary of the _Code Civil_ (see CODE NAPOLÉON), a commission, composed of members of the chambers, magistrates, professors of law, lawyers, political writers, and even novelists and dramatic authors, was given the task of revising the whole structure of the code.
See generally Adhémar Esmein, _Cours élémentaire d'histoire du droit français_ (6th ed., 1906); J. Brissand, _Cours d'histoire générale du droit français public et privé_ (1904); Ernest Glasson, _Histoire du droit et des institutions en France_ (1887-1904); Paul Viollet, _Histoire des institutions politiques et administratives de la France_ (3rd ed., 1903); Fustel de Coulanges, _Histoire des institutions politiques de l'ancienne France_; Jacques Flach, _Les Origines de l'ancienne France_ (1875-1889); Achille Luchaire, _Histoire des institutions monarchiques de la France sous les premiers Capétiens_ (2nd ed., 1900); Hippolyte Taine, _Les Origines de la France contemporaine_ (1878-1894); Adhémar Esmein, _Eléments de droit constitutionnel français et comparé_ (4th ed., 1906); Léon Duguit et Henry Monnier, _Les Constitutions et les principales lois politiques de la France depuis 1789_ (1898). (J. P. E.)