On 13 December 1999, the Conseil d'Etat celebrated 200 years since its creation in the Constitution of An VIII. Much has been written over the year on the judicial functions of the Conseil, but far less has been written on its consultative functions or on its influence on the administrative law of other jurisdictions. In one sense, this is not surprising. Since 1818, the case law of the Conseil has been published regularly and commented upon by French lawyers, as well as by those from abroad. But the consultative functions of the Conseil are not a matter of public record in the same way. The advice given to the government on draft legislation and on other matters is private. We know that the government has received advice on certain matters, but the content of the advice or opinion is not made public, except on the rare occasions in which the government chooses to make it public. (In very recent years, this is becoming more frequent.) As to the influence of the Conseil, while certain obvious influences have occurred, many of the mechanisms are not recorded and rely on actions by individual conseillers d'Etat. The following four papers try to reflect on these areas of the Conseil's activity.