This article examines the development of the concept of laicity and its specific application within the French political, social and cultural context. In doing so it contends that, far from being a 'French exception' as is sometimes perceived in the media, laicity in France drew on concepts and practices already in place in other countries at the time of the 1905 legislation separating church and state. The article concludes by asserting a distinction between laicity and secularism, whereby the former emphasises (...) the separation of the roles of state and religion within a nation, whereas the latter refers to the progressive loss of relevance of religion within a culture. The specific definition of laicity has been enshrined in a recent International Declaration of Laicity in the 21st Century. (shrink)