THE PRESS LAWS IN FRANCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 173, 6 September 1879, Page 3

THE PRESS LAWS IN FRANCE.

A new Bill on the subject of the Press has In-, n hid before Imp French Ch.'.mber of ]>i uties. and is intended to replace innumerable laws on the Press and evervthin.tr conn t-ted with it with which the French code is encumbered. The sub-committee has thoroughly revised all these laws, eliminating those which arecrnsidered unnecessary, and retaining those which it deemed wiprty of preservation.. To these it has' added certain innovations which it has thought requisite, thus forming an entire Bill composed of seventy-one articles. The first at tide, which is, as it were, the ] reface to the law, sets forth the suppression of all the laws now in use. These seventy-one articles are divided into eight chapters, thus distributed : Chapter 1, printing office and library contraventions and penalties ; chapter 2, on the periodical press, the 3rd treats of colportage ; 4th, bill stickers or cariers ; sth, crimes, offences, and penalties ; 6th. jurisdiction ; 7th, procedure; Bth, prescription. The following are some of the principal dispositions of the Bill with regard to the. periodical press :—- Every journal or periodical may be published without any preliminary authorisation and without the deposit of any guarantee after it has been declared. The manager must be a Frenchman of full age and in the enjoyment of his civil and political rights. Before' the publication of an j journal or periodical declara tion must be mad-e at the parquet of the Procurer of the Republic containing—(l) The title of the journal or periodical and the clays on which it is to appear; (2) the name and address of the proprietors; (3) the name and address of the agent; (4) the address of the printing office. All offences against this article will be punished by a fine of from 5f to IOOOf, the proprietor and manager are to be sent to the Procureur of the Republic or the mayors, as the case may be. No journal or periodical can be signed by a member of Parliament as manager. The managers of journals containing condemned articles will be regarded as the principal authors, and the authors themselves, whether they have appended their names or not, as accomplices. The proprietors are civilly responsible for pecuniary condemnations pronounced against the nianagers or the authors of the articles. Journals or periodicals published abroad may be circulated freely in France unless they are specially interdicted by the Government. If, in spite of the prohibition, they are surreptitiously introduced, sold, or distributed, the guilty parties will be liable to a fine offromloofto3ooof.