Either way, this point is moot, as any copyrighted material from mid-19th century France entered the public domain long ago. In this case, Baldus died in 1889,

Either way, this point is moot, as any copyrighted material from mid-19th century France entered the public domain long ago. In this case, Baldus died in 1889, so any of his works would have entered the public domain in 1939, in accordance with French law at the time -- the Literary and Artistic Property Act of 1793 established a copyright term of lifetime + 10 years, which was then extended to 50 years by the Literary and Artistic Property Act of 1866. The next extension to lifetime + 70 for general works* in 1992 came well beyond the point Baldus's work would have entered the public domain. * Copyright term was previously extended in the 1950s to lifetime + 70 years specifically for musical compositions.