a play is made liable to the payment of not less than forty shillings for every unlicensed representation, "or to the full amount of the benefit or advantage arising from such representation, or the injury or loss sustained by the plaintiff therefrom, whichever shall be the greater damages."

The provisions of this statute were extended to musical compositions by the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 45;1 and the term of protection for both dramatic and musical compositions was enlarged from twenty-eight years to that prescribed for copyright in books.

RIGHTS OF FOREIGN AUTHORS IN ENGLAND.

In 1838 was passed the first "Act for securing to authors, in certain cases, the benefit of international copyright."2 The object of this statute was to enable foreign authors to copyright their books in England, and to secure to English authors similar advantages in foreign countries. The Queen was empowered to direct, by an Order in Council, that the author of a book first published in a foreign country should have copyright therein in the United Kingdom for a specified period, by complying with certain prescribed regulations; but only on condition that similar privileges should be conferred by such country upon English authors.

This law related only to books, and contained no provision for conferring upon authors the exclusive right of representing or performing dramatic pieces and musical compositions first published or publicly performed in a foreign country; and did not apply to prints, sculpture, and other works of art. For the protection of such productions, the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 12, was passed in 1844. It repealed the act above cited, but re-enacted. its general provisions relating to books, and extended them to prints, articles of sculpture, and other works of art. Provision was also made for conferring upon dramatists whose works had first been given to the public in foreign countries the sole liberty of representing or performing them for a specified period, in any part of the British dominions. While the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 12, provided for extending protection to foreign books in the

original language, it declared that nothing in it should be construed to prevent the printing, publication, or sale of translations of foreign works. By the 15 & 16 Vict. c. 12, passed in 1852, provision was made for the protection of translations of books and of dramatic compositions. The act, however, declared that" fair imitations, or adaptations to the English stage," of foreign dramatic and musical compositions, might be made by any person.2 This provision was repealed in 1875 by the 38 Vict. c. 12, which empowered the Queen, by Order in Council, to protect foreign plays against this species of piracy.

International copyright conventions have been made between Great Britain and the following countries: Prussia and Saxony, in 1846; Brunswick, Thuringian Union, Hanover, and Oldenburg, in 1847; France, in 1851; Anhalt and Hamburg, in 1853; Belgium, in 1854; Prussia (additional), in 1855; Spain, in 1857; and Sardinia, in 1860.

In the general copyright statutes, Parliament has made no express distinction between native and foreign authors. It has granted copyright to "authors," without prescribing any restriction as to nationality. There has been a marked diversity of judicial opinion as to the true meaning of the law on this point. Some jurists have contended that the privileges granted must be presumed to have been intended for British subjects exclusively. Others have maintained that both the spirit and the letter of the law are broad enough to embrace, on equal terms, all authors, whether native or foreign. Prior to 1854, the decisions of the courts on this question were conflicting. In that year, the House of Lords, in the case of Jefferys v. Boosey, held, on a divided opinion of the advising judges, that a foreign author, resident abroad, was not entitled to English copyright. In 1868, in the case of Routledge v. Low, the same tribunal, protecting the rights of an American author who had been in Canada at the time of the publication of her novel in London, declared that an alien became entitled to English copyright by first publishing in the United Kingdom, provided he were anywhere within the British dominions at the time of

such publication. This judgment has continued to represent the law.

COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

The first legislation on the subject of literary property in the United States appears at the close of the Revolution. In January, 1783, Connecticut passed a "Law for the encouragement of literature and genius," with a preamble setting forth that "it is perfectly agreeable to the principles of natural equity and justice that every author should be secured in receiving the profits that may arise from the sale of his works; and such security may encourage men of learning and genius to publish their writings, which may do honor to their country and service to mankind.” 1

In March of the same year, the legislature of Massachusetts passed "An Act for the purpose of securing to authors the exclusive right and benefit of publishing their literary productions for twenty-one years."2 The views entertained at that early day in this enlightened Commonwealth, concerning the importance and justice of protecting the rights of authors, are expressed in the strong language of the preamble:

"Whereas the improvement of knowledge, the progress of civilization, the public weal of the community, and the advancement of human happiness, greatly depend on the efforts of learned and ingenious persons in the various arts and sciences: as the principal encouragement such persons can have, to make great and beneficial exertions of this nature, must exist in the legal security of the fruits of their study and industry to themselves; and as such security is one of the natural rights of all men, there being no property more peculiarly a man's own than that which is produced by the labor of his mind, — Therefore, to encourage learned and ingenious persons to write useful books for the benefit of mankind, be it enacted," &c.

The act then declares that all books, treatises, and other literary works shall be the sole property of the authors, if citizens of the United States, their heirs and assigns, for twenty-one years from the date of first publication; and pre

1 St. of Conn. (ed. 1786) 133.

2 1 Laws of Mass. (ed. 1807) 94.

scribes penalties for violations of this right. This law, as well as that of Connecticut, contained a proviso that its benefits should not extend to the citizens of any other State which had not passed a similar law.

At this time, the subject of literary property was brought before the old Congress by sundry papers and memorials; and on the 2d of May, 1783, the following resolution, reported by Mr. Madison, was adopted:

"Resolved, That it be recommended to the several States to secure to the authors or publishers of any new books not hitherto printed, being citizens of the United States, and to their executors, administrators, and assigns, the copyright of such books for a certain time, not less than fourteen years from the first publication; and to secure to the said authors, if they shall survive the term first mentioned, and to their executors, administrators, and assigns, the copyright of such books for another term of time not less than fourteen years, such copy or exclusive right of printing, publishing, and vending the same, to be secured to the original authors or publishers, their executors, administrators, and assigns, by such laws and such restrictions as to the several States may seem proper.” 1

Pursuant to this recommendation, copyright laws were passed by Virginia in 1785,2 New York in 1786,3 and by other States, securing to authors, for a limited time, exclusive property in their literary works. Under this system, it was necessary for authors, in order to enjoy the benefits of protection in States other than that in which they resided, to copyright their works in each State having such laws. Authors' rights, therefore, depended on the legislation in the several States, as there was no national law relating to copyright.

In order to afford to literary property, as well as to useful inventions and discoveries, adequate protection throughout the United States by a general law, the Federal Constitution, framed in 1787, empowered Congress "to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."4 Pursuant to this provision, the first copy

18 Journals of Congress, 189.

2 12 Hening's Statutes at Large, 30.

8 2 Laws of New York (Jones & Varick's ed., 1789), 820. 4 Art. 1, s. 8, cl. 8.

right law of the United States was passed May 31, 1790. It was entitled "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." This statute gave to authors who were citizens or residents of the United States, their heirs and assigns, copyright in maps, charts, and books for fourteen years; and provided for a second term of the same length, if the author should be living at the expiration of the first. The applicant was required, before publication, to deposit, in the clerk's office of the district court in the judicial district where he resided, a printed copy of the title of the book or map, within two months after publication; to publish the record of this fact for four weeks in one or more newspapers printed in the United States; and, within six months after publication, to deliver to the Secretary of State of the United States a copy of the book. The penalty prescribed for publishing, importing, or selling a book in violation of the act was forfeiture of copies to the author or owner, "who shall forthwith destroy the same," and the payment of fifty cents for every sheet found in possession of the offender, one half to go to the author or owner, and the other half to the United States. The act also provided a remedy against the unauthorized publication of manuscripts belonging to citizens or residents of the United States, a provision which has been continued by subsequent statutes to the present time.

The next statute relating to copyright was that of April 29, 1802, which went into effect the following January. This required the copy of the record in the district clerk's office, besides being published in a newspaper, to be printed on the title-page of the book, or that immediately following. It also extended the provisions of the act of 1790 to "the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." The act of Feb. 15, 1819, gave to the circuit courts original cognizance, in equity and at law, of all controversies respecting literary property arising under the laws of the United States."

In 1831, the acts of 1790 and 1802 were repealed, and the law relating to copyright was embodied in one statute. The

11 U. S. St. at L. 124.

2 2 Id. 171.

3 3 Id. 481.

4 4 Id. 436.

In December, 1830, Mr. Ellsworth from the Committee on the Judiciary,