Napoleon Bonaparte
Outside his considerable skills as a general Napoleon Bonaparte instigated probably the most important legal reforms of the modern era. Bonaparte took a country with no single set of laws; many based on outdated unfair medieval feudal processes and in just over three years produced a new legal code that is the foundation much of the European legal system today.
Unlike Justinian’s code the Napoleonic Code was a comprehensive rewrite; its structure was much more rational; it had no religious content; and it was written in French rather than an inaccessible language such as Latin. The development of the Napoleonic Code was a fundamental change in the nature of the civil law system, making laws clearer and more accessible.