LITERARY PROPERTY AND INTERNATIONAL 



COPYRIGHT. 

 By Horace E. Smith, LL. D. 



[Read before the Albany Institute, March 13, 1883.] 

 What is the meaning of the term property ? 



In its primary legal sense it signifies ownership ; but it is used to 

 express both the ownership of a thing, and the thing owned; to signify 

 the right and interest which a person has in any subject of property, 

 and, also, whatever things constitute the subjects of property. In its 

 conventional use it is not restricted to corporeal things ; and in legal 

 terminology it embraces all subjects of property, whether corporeal or 

 incorporeal. 



In the sense of ownership, property is variously defined — " the ex- 

 clusive right of possessing, enjoying, and disposing of a thing ;" "ex- 

 clusive dominion over a thing, ' and "the right and interest which a 

 man has in lands and chattels to the exclusion of others." 



Either of these definitions is sufficiently accurate for ordinary pur- 

 poses ; but the one best suited to the present discussion is that of 

 "exclusive dominion over a thing." 



But, whence the idea of property? What is the origin of the right 

 of property? These, and cognate questions, have elicited much 

 learned discussion and developed divers theories. A review of this 

 discussion is unnecessary for our present purpose, but it may safely be 

 premised that the idea of property was implanted in the human con- 

 sciousness by the Author of our being. This, doubtless, is the genesis 

 of the idea, and the true origin of the right of property. 



Says Ahrens, a distinguished German writer: "For every man 

 property is a condition of his existence and development. It is based 

 on the actual nature of man, and should, therefore, be regarded as an 

 original absolute right, which is not the result of any outward act, 

 such as occupation, labor or contract. The right springing directly 

 from human nature, the title of being a man, is sufficient to confer a 

 right of property." 



In every age, and among all nations and peoples, from the rudest 

 and most barbarous to the highly civilized and polished, there has 



