Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress, Part I
Mr. Dix to Mr. Seward
Sir: I have the honor to transmit to the department a copy of Galignani’s messenger of the 14th instant, containing a translation of the proposed laws on the press.
I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Laws on the Press.
The legislative body held a sitting yesterday, Count Walewski in the chair. The honorable gentleman stated that he had received from the minister of state the bill on the press, which is thus worded:
Article 1. Every Frenchman who has attained his majority, and enjoying the civil and political rights, may, without preliminary authorization, publish a journal or periodical, appearing either regularly and on fixed days, or in numbers and irregularly.
Art. 2. No journal or periodical can be published without there having been made in Paris, at the prefecture of police, and in the departments, at the several prefectures, a fortnight at least before publication, a declaration containing: 1. The title of the journal or periodical, and the dates of its appearance. 2. The name, address, and qualifications of the proprietors, other than those who furnish the capital. 3. The name and address of the gérant. 4. The printing office where it is to be produced. Any change in the conditions above enumerated is to be declared within a fortnight after. Any contravention of the provisions of the present article is punished by the penalties named in Art. 5 of the decree of February 17, 1852.
Art. 3. Journals and periodicals solely devoted to literature, science, the fine arts, and agriculture are exempt from a stamp, unless they contain notices or advertisements of some kind. In the latter case, they are subject to stamp duties, the amount of which is fixed at one-third of those established by Art. 6 of the decree of February 17,1852. The simple publication of market rates, or of the securities quoted at the French Bourses, is not considered as an advertisement.
Art. 4. Are considered as supplements and subject to the stamp, as well as the journal itself, if not already stamped, sheets containing notices or advertisements, whenever they serve as a covering for the journal, or when they are annexed to it; or when, published separately, they are nevertheless distributed or sold at the same time.
Art. 5. Are exempt from stamp and postal duties, the supplements of journals or periodicals subject to caution-money, when those supplements contain neither notices nor advertisements of any kind, and when at least half of their surface is devoted to the reproduction of the documents enumerated in Art. 1 of the law of May 2, 1861.
Art. 6. Are applicable, in case of a contravention of the proceeding, the provisions of Arts.10 and 11, par. 1, of the decree of February 17, 1852, if the journal is not subject to caution-money to which it would have been subjected if it had treated of political matters or social economy.
Art. 7. At the moment of the publication of each sheet or number of the journal or periodical there shall be sent to the prefecture in the chief towns of the department, to the sub-prefecture for those of the arrondissement, and to the mairies for other towns, two copies signed by the responsible gérant, or by one of them if there are several. A similar deposit shall be made at the office of the procurer imperial, or at the mairies in towns where there is no tribunal of first instance. These Copies are. exempted from the stamp.
Art. 8. No journal or periodical can be signed by a member of the senate or legislative body as responsible gérant. In case of contravention the journal shall be considered as not signed, and a penalty of from 500 francs to 3,000 francs fine shall be pronounced against the printers and proprietors.
Art. 9. The publication by a journal or periodical of an article signed by a person deprived of his civil and political rights, or one to whom the territory of France is interdicted, shall be punished by a fine of from 1,000 francs to 5,000 francs, which shall be pronounced against the editors or gérant of the said journal or periodical.
Art. 10. In cases of prosecution for press offences, the direct summons before the correctional police or imperial court can be given for 24 hours after. The person incriminated who has once appeared before the tribunal or the court cannot afterwards make default.
[Page 237]Art. 11. In all cases where the laws now pronounce fine and imprisonment from press offences, the former shall only be inflicted. The amount shall be, for journals subject to caution-money, the fifteenth part of that sum as a minimum and one-half as a maximum. For journals not subject to caution-money the minimum shall be 500 francs, and the maximum 10,000 francs. Art 463. shall not be applicable.
Art. 12. Any person condemned for press offences can be suspended by the judgment of condemnation during a period not exceeding five years from the exercise of his electoral rights.
Art. 13. A condemnation for crime committed by the press involves de jure the suppression of the journal of which the gérant has been sentenced. In the case of a second offence, within two years from the first condemnation, the tribunals can pronounce the suspension of a journal for a period of not less than a fortnight nor more than two months. A suspension of from two to six months may be pronounced for a third condemnation within the delay just mentioned. The same may be produced by a first condemnation, if incurred for provocation to one of the crimes provided for by Arts. 86, 87, and 91 of the Penal Code. During the whole period of the suspension, the caution-money shall remain lodged in the treasury and cannot be otherwise employed.
Art. 14. The provisional execution of the sentence pronouncing the suspension or suppression of a journal can by a special provision be ordered, notwithstanding opposition or appeal to the court of cassation. It shall be the same for lodging the fine, without prejudice to the enactments of Arts. 29, 30, and 31 of the decree of February 17, 1852. In case of provisional execution pronounced by the tribunal of correctional police, the person condemned even by default can at once appeal; and the court must decide within a period of three days.
Art. 15. The occupations of printers and of booksellers are exempted from any obligation to have a special authorization. No printer or bookseller can establish or change the place of his business, any more than his warehouses, without having made a previous declaration at Paris, to the prefecture of police, and in the departments at the prefecture. The said declaration must state the locality in which is to be established either the printing-plant or the warehouses. The non-observance of the previous declaration will entail on the owner or gérant an imprisonment of from one month to two years and a fine of from 3,000 francs to 10,000 francs. In addition the establishment shall he closed.
Art. 16. Are abrogated Arts. 1, 24, and 32 of the decree of February 17, 1852; Art. 11 of the law of October 21, 1814; the decree of March 22, 1852; and generally all provisions of anterior laws contrary to the present bill. The rest of the day was taken up with the consideration of the customs bill, the discussion on which not being terminated, was adjourned until after the interpellations on the foreign policy of the government.