THE SECOND EMPIRE Numerous legislative reforms were introduced by the Second Empire, aiming at the development of commerce, industry and agriculture, and the material prosperity of the country in general. Such were the decrees and laws of 1852 and 1853 relating to land banks (etablissements de credit foncier), that of 1857 on trade marks, that of 1858 on general stores (magasins generaux) and warrants, those of 1863 and 1867 on commercial companies, that of 1865 on cheques and that of 1866 on the mercantile marine. Economic treaties were also concluded by the emperor with f or eign Powers, the chief of these being concluded with Great Britain on Jan. 23, 186o. In another direction, the law of May 25, 1864, recognized for the first time the right of strikes among workmen and employees, while the superannuation fund (caisses des retraites pour la vieillesse) created by the law of June 18, 185o, was reorganized and perfected, and a law of July 11, 1868, established, under the guarantee of the State, two funds for volun tary insurance, one in case of death, the other against accidents occurring in industrial or agricultural employment.
Criminal law was the subject of important legislation. Thus the total Loss of civil rights which hitherto accompanied condem nation to imprisonment for life was abolished in 1854, and in the same year transportation to the colonies was substituted for the system of Continental convict prisons. The law of July 17, 1856, increased the power of independence of the juges d'in struction, and useful improvements were introduced by the laws of 1856 and 1865 as regards precautionary detention and pro visional release with or without bail. Finally a general revision of the Code Penal took place in 1863.
In civil legislation may be noted the law of March 23, on hypotheques; that of July 22, 1857, which abolished seizure of the person (contrainte par corps) for civil and commercial debts; and finally the law of July 14, 1866, on literary copyright. The system of taxation was hardly modified at all, except for the establishment of a tax on the income from investments (shares and bonds of companies) in 1857, and a tax on carriages (1862). In Feb. 1868 an important military law was promul gated which asserted the principle of universal compulsory mili tary service in time of war, but preserved the system of drawing lots to determine the annual contingent to be incorporated in the standing army. The term of service was fixed at five years, and it was still permissible to send a substitute. Able-bodied men who were not included in the annual contingent formed a reserve force, called the Garde Nationale Mobile, which took part in the war of 187o-71.