Corvée is unfree labour, often unpaid, that is required of people of lower social standing and imposed on them by the state or by a superior (such as an aristocrat or noble). The corvée was the earliest and most widespread form of taxation, which can be traced back to the beginning of civilization. It was state-imposed forced labour on peasants too poor to pay other forms of taxation (labour in ancient Egyptian is a synonym for taxes). The corvée also existed towards feudal superiors (when there was no state framework), and was sometimes levied anyway even on persons with cash resources.

The corvée differs from chattel slavery in that the worker is not owned outright – being free in various respects other than in the dispensation of his or her labour – and the work is usually intermittent; typically only a certain number of days' or months' work is required each year. It is a form of unfree labour where the worker is not, or not fully, compensated. Unlike other forms of levy, such as a tithe, the corvée does not require the population to have land, crops or cash and thus it tends to be favored in economies where money is in short supply. Corvée is thus most often found in economies where barter is the usual method of trade, or in subsistence economies.

Anne Roumanoff (born on 25 September 1965 in Paris) is a French humorist and actress.

At age 12, she attended her first theater school. After studying at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, in the same class as Laurence Parisot, David Pujadas, Jean-François Cope, Frédéric Beigbeder and Isabelle Giordano, she began at 22, in 1987, in the TV broadcast La Classe on France 3, alongside Fabrice, Lagaf' and Jean-Marie Bigard. She became famous for her one-woman shows.

In 1991, Anne Roumanoff became part of the team of French TV show Rien à cirer on France Inter with Laurent Ruquier. In 1998, she celebrated her ten-year career at the Olympia.

In 2001, she was the French voice of Coco la bouche in the animated feature Rugrats in Paris: The Movie. In 2003, her show Follement Roumanoff had a 13-month run at the Bobino Theater in Paris, then she started a tour in France and Quebec. In 2007, she celebrated her 20-year career with Anne a 20 ans at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris. From September 2007, she made a comic forum on the news, entitled On ne nous dit pas tout in the show Vivement Dimanche, hosted by Michel Drucker.