The law passed by the National Assembly on 13 January 1791 marks one of the two turning-points in relations between the theatres and the state (the other being Napoleon III's decree of 6 January 1864); it owes this distinction not just for the clause abolishing censorship which, as we shall see, proved short-lived. The decree on the theatres, as it came to be called, embodied two main provisions: first, that any citizen was henceforth free to open a theatre on a simple declaration to the municipality; secondly, that performing rights in any dramatic work were to be considered as vested in the author during his lifetime, and in his heirs for five years after his death; as soon as the five years had elapsed, the work became public property and could therefore be produced freely anywhere in the kingdom.

It might be thought that the first to welcome a move to decontrol the theatres would have been the boulevard directors, who had suffered incessant harrying in times past when they were trying to establish themselves and attract sufficient custom to make their enterprises pay. But Nicolet, Audinot, the directors of the Théâtre des Associés etc. were none too anxious to see a mushroom growth of new theatres, on the Boulevard and elsewhere in Paris, leading to unwelcome competition. Even before the Revolution they had viewed with scant enthusiasm the founding, in June 1787, of the Bluettes-Comiques by Clèment de Lornaizon; their complaints resulted in this upstart being confined to dumb show, with off-stage and unseen actors speaking or singing the parts.