Code

Aix-en-Provence, April 2021

In the archives, the object is small and thin, much more so than the Codes we are used to, red or blue cobblestones filled with commentaries and case law. The cover shows that the editors of this one are in fact two trade unions, for lack of any real ministerial action to collect the labour law texts applicable to the “Overseas Territories”.
But the ability to implement a code, for a work inspector, depends on the current state of the texts and not on those in force at the time of publication; hence the need to produce a home-made object, useful in the workplace, from typewritten manuscripts, glue to cover the previous text and tape to hold it all together. A blank sheet of paper is also needed to physically remove the repealed parts of the texts, in this case the reverse side of a typed sheet, as paper was expensive in the post-war period.
It remains to be seen whether the exhibition of such a singular object undermined the legitimacy of the inspectors or, on the contrary, reinforced their prestige by proving their ability to apply the Law, nothing but the Law, but the whole Law.