Barrett, Bryant, Translator. The Code Napoleon, Verbally Translated From the French: To Which is Prefixed an Introductory Discourse, Containing a Succinct Account of the Civil Regulations, Comprised in the Jewish Law, the Ordinances of Menu, the Ta Tsing Leu Lee, the Zend Avesta, the Laws of Solon, the Twelve Tables of Rome, the Laws of the Barbarians, the Assises of Jerusalem, and the Koran. London: W. Reed, 1811. Two volumes. cccxciii, 575 pp. Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 2003044238. ISBN 1-58477-381-2. Cloth. $160. * Reprint of the first English edition. Bryant Barrett was an English attorney and member of Gray's Inn. His superb translation is noteworthy in part because it was published the year the Code was enacted. As such, it has the advantage of being in a style of English that is an idiomatic contemporary to the original French. Many scholars believe that this is the finest translation of the Code. Indeed, they have found it to be more accurate than the official Louisiana edition. Barrett's index, which follows the style of English lawyer's common-place books and abridgments, is a thorough guide to the Code. The philological basis of his 393-page introduction had a profound influence on the subsequent development of Classical British legal ethnography.

Originally published: 5th ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1956.