The Napoleonic Code ‒ or Code Napoléon, officially the Code civil des Français ‒ is the French civil code established under Napoléon I in 1804. Four judges wrote the Code for Napoleon, to replace the many different kinds of law in different places. It did not allow privileges based on birth (such as nobility), established equality before the law and secured the right to property. It allowed freedom of religion. It also set up a system of Civil service where government jobs would go to the most qualified. 