Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Geiger, Christophe --- "The Influence (Past and Present) of the Statute of Anne in France" [2010] ELECD 504; in Bently, Lionel; Suthersanen, Uma; Torremans, Paul (eds), "Global Copyright" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Global Copyright

Editor(s): Bently, Lionel; Suthersanen, Uma; Torremans, Paul

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848447660

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: The Influence (Past and Present) of the Statute of Anne in France

Author(s): Geiger, Christophe

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

9. The influence (past and present) of
the Statute of Anne in France
Christophe Geiger*

1 INTRODUCTION

It is a difficult, almost impossible task to analyse the influence of the
Statute of Anne in France from a historical point of view and from the
point of view of the current legal context. This is due to several reasons.
The first reason is that it is very difficult to clearly establish a direct influ-
ence of the Statute of Anne in France. First of all, from a historical point
of view, nothing indicates a direct connection with the subsequent French
legislation, neither with the King's Council's rulings of 1777 and 1778, nor
after the Revolution with the laws of 1791 and 1793. Certainly, as Laurent
Pfister and Frédéric Rideau1 rightly stated, the Statute of Anne was some-
times quoted by certain participants in the debates which led to the French
legislation, and we may assume that the British law was known in France.
The problem is that we cannot find explicit reference, neither in the pre-
liminary works nor in the rapporteurs' statements allowing us to establish
any influence. Since a direct connection seems uncertain from the very
beginning, it becomes even more difficult to establish a direct relation with
the current legislation. For instance, it is rather evident that the brand new
French law regarding file-sharing on the Internet is not directly inspired by
the British legislation elaborated in the early eighteenth century and does


* ...