The influence of the French Penal Code of 1810 over the “general part” of the Portuguese Penal Code of 1852: the visible and the invisible

This chapter aims at assessing whether or not the Code Pénal of 1810 (the Code) bore any influence on the “general part” of the Portuguese Penal Code of 1852 (PC1852)—and, if so, to what extent. To that effect, it is necessary to understand how the reform of the penal laws developed in Portugal from the late 18th century to 1852, the first milestone being the Draft Penal Code authored by Mello Freire and submitted to Queen Maria I in 1786. It is also important to analyse the process in the context of the political and military strife that ravaged the country during the first half of the 19th century, namely the Napoleonic invasions and the constitutional reforms that resulted from the civil war between liberals and absolutists. The general conclusion of our study is that the Code was one of the references that has been taken into account in the reform of the Portuguese criminal law that led to the enactment of the PC1852, along with other foreign laws and the Portuguese legal tradition, and its influence was more felt in the sanctions system than on the other sections of the new code.