The Decree of 19 July 1793, probably the most famous piece of legislation of the French sources for intellectual property, confirmed the recognition of a literary and artistic property right, secured from then on by national law. In spite of its mere 7 articles, it was to have an exceptional endurance, even though, as we shall see, it had been voted upon by the National Assembly without any specific debates in an increasingly chaotic political context. For the first time, it succeeded in dissociating the question of the freedom of the press and literary property, in a concise report from the deputy Lakanal (a fresh member of the Committee on the public instruction) in charge of the presentation of the bill before the National Assembly (the Convention). It also aimed at the protection of works of all kinds but under a limited duration assured by law, illustrating again the precarious and implicit balance between individual and public interests, and between private and “public property”. Yet, the language used by Lakanal, incorporated key elements of the enlightenment debates within literary property, on which judges and legislators would frame principles throughout the nineteenth century until 1957.