French law of 29 December 1915

Étaples Military Cemetery, located in Northern France near the site of a number of Allied military hospitals, contains more than 10,000 First World War burials, the earliest dating to May 1915.[1]

The French law of 29 December 1915 (French: Loi du 29 décembre 1915 concernant les lieux de sépulture à établir pour les soldats des armées françaises et alliées décédés pendant la durée de la guerre) gave the government the right to acquire land to be held in perpetuity for cemeteries for soldiers of the Allies who died in the First World War. It also granted the right for French soldiers to have individual graves and permitted temporary British cemeteries to remain in place as a "perpetual resting place". It became a model for the treatment of Allied fatalities in theatres elsewhere in the war.

  1. ^ "Etaples Military Cemetery: Cemetery Details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 10 November 2022.