Despite attempts of several parties (including the King), the Southern Dutch dominated parliament rejected the new law in 1822 and pushed for a reformed Napoleonic law.

The Convent was suppressed in 1808 by the Napoleonic laws.

Then the Napoleonic law requiring property to be divided equally among heirs produced ever-smaller parcels of land.

In 1808 the School, like the other Venetian confraternities, was closed by Napoleonic laws and its works of art dispersed.

Lawyers from France and Louisiana, the only state with a legal system based on Napoleonic law, were brought in to help.

The premises were subsequently used, under a Napoleonic law, as a hostel for beggars, and from 1815 under the Prussian regime as a workhouse.

The Napoleonic civil laws were abolished, and most civil servants were removed from office.

In 1810 the Napoleonic laws suppressed all the religious orders and monasteries, confiscating their properties.

However, since no law court existed in the neutral territory, Belgian and Prussian judges had to come in and decide cases based on the Napoleonic laws.

They were harassed by the government under an onerous Napoleonic law prohibiting gatherings of more than 20 members without a permit.