The exhibition stems from the first article of the Declaration of Human and Citizen’s Rights which states that “men are born free and equal in rights”. While this founding text sets out at the outset the principle of equality before the law, it also establishes the possibility of verifying it and justifying any failure to do so. How? By establishing a common foundation of rights and duties (a society), by raising individuals to the rank of actors within a nation (citizens), by creating entities with identical functioning divided into 83 departments and 44,000 municipalities (one administration), by providing them with a uniform legal regime (a justice system), etc. and above all, by keeping the evidence! Because the whole is subject to Article 15 of the same declaration: «The company has the right to ask any public official of its administration to account». CQFD, so the archives are born!