THE LAW OF COPYRIGHT. 427 



untrue. His Lordship was rejoiced that the court was able to mark its 

 reprobation of such conduct by not giving the defendant, though suc- 

 cessful, his costs. He trusted this would be a lesson to the defendant 

 to act in future more frankly." 



It is with reluctance that we supplement the previous abstract with 

 those passages, from what we must assume to be an impartial report ; 

 but since we are appealed'to, we are bound, if possible, not to wrong 

 the plaintiff in seeking to accord justice to his rival. Not unnaturally, 

 the decision of the Vice-Chancellor fluttered authors considerably, as it 

 seemed to establish a proprietory right by mere priority of compilation, 

 giving to the first miner in the quarry of published investigation and 

 research a right little short of that of the original author. It was not, 

 therefore, without reason that the Atkenseum, in reporting that " the 

 Vice-Chancellor's judgment was dismissed," added, " Some authors 

 will breathe more freely after this." 



Various letters addressed to ourselves expressed the uausual interest 

 which the trial has excited among literary men. One distinguished Bri- 

 tish anthropologist thus comments on it : "I see in your paper on R;ice 

 Head-forms, you take up Mr. Pike and the strange trial to which his 

 publication and that of Dr. Nicholas have given rise. I was not sur- 

 prised to see the decision reversed in this famous case. Had it remained 

 unquestioned, there would not have been any safety. Nevertheless, I 

 cannot help thinking that Dr. Nicholas got a great deal from Mr. Pike's 

 work." 



While thus quoting the reports and opinions of impartial on-lookers, 

 it is only fair to draw attention to an important element in the question, 

 which is calculated to modify such a verdict. It is not a simple case 

 of the publication of Mr. Pike's " English and their Origin," ia 1866, 

 and then of a work by Dr. Nicholas, in 1868, under the analogous title 

 of " The Pedigree of the English People," with as great a correspon- 

 dence in plan and arguments as in title. Were this the whole case, the 

 undoubted priority of publication on Mr. Pike's part would give him a 

 strong claim to the preoccupation of the literary field, apart from any 

 question as to absolute originality in views or research. But when it 

 is seen that both publications originated in a competition at the Welsh 

 Eisteddfod, and are in reality only expansions of rival prize essays, 

 written at the same time, on the same subject, and to a great extent 

 based on the same authorities, it ceases to surprise us that much should 

 be found common to both, which nevertheless is asserted to have beea 



