How did the revolution influence legal equality and property rights in the long term?

• A. Feudal privileges were abolished, civil equality established, and property rights protected; Napoleonic Code unified laws and spread across Europe.
• B. Feudal privileges preserved; property rights limited to nobles.
• C. It had no lasting impact on property rights.
• D. It undermined civil equality by restoring primogeniture.

Answer: (A)

Legal equality and property rights were transformed by the revolution, especially through the abolition of feudal privileges and the move toward civil equality. The revolution ended the old privileges tied to birth and estate, establishing the principle that all male citizens were equal before the law. Property rights gained stronger protection as part of a move to rationalize and standardize law across society. The Napoleonic Code became the key vehicle, codifying these ideas into a single, accessible legal framework and then spreading to many parts of Europe. That codified system unified laws in France and influenced many other countries, shaping inheritance, contracts, and property rules for generations. So the lasting effect is abolition of feudal privileges, formal equality before the law, and protected property rights, embodied and propagated by the Napoleonic Code. These points align with the historical record, while the other options contradict what happened: feudal privileges were not preserved, the revolution did have a lasting impact, and it did not restore primogeniture or reverse civil equality.