Diffamation, vie publique et vie privée en France de 1789 à 1944

Abstract

The concept of «private life» (rather than «privacy») appears in France during the Revolution, with the will to protect persons against defamations. It is one of the main arguments used by Royer-Collard during the debate about the 1819 press law. It has been an element of a special offence between 1868 and 1881. Without any definition in statutory law, the «private life» has been used by courts in order to decide in which cases the exceptio veritatis had to be denied for authors of defamations. At the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, the judges have made the case law evolve in favour of newspapers. This evolution can be analyzed as the succession of three configurations of the concept of «private life» in France from 1789 to 1944