Literary Property and International Copyright, 



the statutory right begins, the common-law right ends, and ends for- 

 ever. When a composition is published in print, the common-law 

 right of the author is lost; and if the publication do not conform to 

 the provisions of the statute, he secures no statutory right, and is left 

 without protection. 



A brief review of the judicial history of literary property will aid the 

 discussion; but such review must necessarily be very general under 



The first distinctive copyright statute enacted in England was what 

 is known as the " statute of Anne," passed in 1710. There is clear 

 evidence that property in literary productions had then been recog- 

 nized by the English courts for a period of at least fifty years ; and a 

 strong probability that such recognition extended back to the latter 

 part of the fifteenth century, when printing was introduced into 

 England. 



The ante-statutory existence of this right must, of course, have been 

 due to the common law. 



The statute of Anne was enacted on the petition of proprietors of 

 copies praying for more effectual protection of their property, and a 

 more adequate remedy for infringement of their rights than was 

 afforded by the common law. They asked, among other things, that 

 confiscation of the counterfeit copies might be made one of the penal- 

 ties. Their prayer for relief assumed the existence of a common-lav 

 right ; and they never once dreamed that the answer to their prayer 

 would deprive them of that right. 



Between the passage of this"act, in 1710, and the decision of Millar 

 v. Taylor there were not less than five solemn adjudications by the 

 English Court of Chancery, sustaining the common -law right, notwith- 

 standing the statute of Anne. These causes were decided by such 

 jurists as Sir Joseph Jekyl, Lord Talbot and Lord Hardwicke. 



Then came the case of Millar v. Taylor, in which, after elaborate 

 argument, and full consideration, it was adjudged by the Court of 

 King's Bench, against the opinion of Mr. Justice Yates, that copyright 

 had its foundation in the common law, and was not destroyed by the 

 8tatute of Anne, which was enacted for its more complete protection. 



Five years later, the same question came before the House of Lords, 

 on appeal, in the case of Donaldson v. Becket. The lords, as they might 

 do, ordered the opinion of the twelve judges upon the questions of law 

 involved. Ten of them answered that at common law the author of an 

 unpublished literary composition had the right of publishing it for sale, 

 and might maintain an action against any person who should publish 



