Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Napoleonic Code came into effect on the 21st of March 1804. It was established during the French Consulate and remains in force in France today, though it has been heavily and frequently amended since its inception.
A commission of four jurists drafted the Napoleonic Code: Jacques de Maleville, Francois Denis Tronchet, Felix-Julien-Jean Bigot de Prameneu, and Jean-Etienne-Marie Portalis. Napoleon himself was not directly involved in drafting but chaired many plenary sessions and provided the political support needed for its enactment.
The Napoleonic Code drew its categories not from earlier French law but from Justinian's sixth-century codification of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, specifically the Institutes. The Code divided law into persons, property, acquisition of property, and civil procedure.
Louisiana retained French legal traditions because Spain ceded the territory to France in 1800 and France sold it to the United States in 1803; the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowed Louisiana to keep its French-influenced civil code. As a result, Louisiana is the only U.S. state to practice forced inheritance of an estate, its bar exam differs significantly from other states, and some of its laws conflict with the Uniform Commercial Code practiced by the other 49 states.
The Napoleonic Code influenced legal reforms in the Middle East and other developing countries seeking to modernize through legal changes. In Mauritius, the French Civil Code was extended by decree on the 21st of April 1808, modified and embodied in the Revised Laws of Mauritius 1945, and survives today under the title Code Civil Mauricien.
The Napoleonic Code established the supremacy of the husband over his wife and children. Women held even fewer legal rights than children under its provisions. Divorce by mutual consent was abolished in 1804 when the Code came into force.