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COPYRIGHT in America has been so much modelled on English statutes, decisions, and precedents, that previous papers have presented many of the points of copyright law in the United Kingdom. There are two essential points of difference, however, between the British and American copyright systems. Copyright there depends essentially upon first publication, not upon citizenship; and registration and deposit, which are here a sine quâ non, are there only necessary previous to, and as a basis for, an infringement suit. A book first published in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland) is ipso facto copyright throughout Her Majesty's Dominions, whether it be from a natural born or naturalized subject of the Queen, wherever resident; or from a person who is at the time of publication on British soil, colonies included, and so temporarily a subject of the crown-bound by, subject to, and entitled to the benefit of the laws," even if he made a journey for this express purpose; or, probably but not certainly, by an alien friend not resident in the United Kingdom nor in a country with which there is a copyright treaty. Under the statute of Anne, it was decided by the Law Lords, in the case of Boosey vs. Jefferys (overruling Jefferys vs. Boosey), that a person not a British subject or resident was not entitled to copyright because of first publication in England, but the statute of 5 and 6 Victoria was construed to alter this. In the ruling case under the last-named statute, Routledge vs. Low (on appeal from Low vs. Routledge), Lords Cairns and Westbury laid down explicitly that first publication was the single necessity, and that copyright was not strengthened by residence; but Lord Cranworth

objected and Lord Chelmsford doubted whether this was good law. It is because of this doubt that American authors have been accustomed to make a day's stay in Montreal on the date of English publication of their books-possibly a wise precaution, though probably unnecessary. It was unanimously held, in the case last cited, that to acquire copyright throughout the British Dominions the work must be published within the United Kingdom; it is probable, but uncertain, that first publication in one of the colonies, for instance, confines copyright to that colony under its local law alone. Simultaneous publication elsewhere does not, however, vitiate British copyright. If a portion of a work only be first published in the United Kingdom, that portion is protected and only the other parts of the book can be reprinted without permission. The practical effect of all this is to give an international copyright under provisions of the domestic law.

Registration in England is made at Stationers' Hall, London; the requirement should certify that the applicant is the proprietor of the copyright of the book, should give accurately the title, name of publisher, and place of publication, name and place of abode of the proprietor of the copyright, and date of first publication; and should be dated, signed, and witnessed. The fee is five shillings ($1.25) for registration, and five shillings for certificate of entry. Assignments are also to be recorded-the fee being also five shillings. Blank forms are furnished by the Stationers' Company. No suit can be brought for the piracy of a book until this registration is made, but after registration the copyright proprietor may obtain penalties for piracy

committed before registration an anomaly which the Copyright Commission propose to correct by confining penalties to acts committed after registration. The law also requires the deposit of one copy of the best edition with the British Museum, within one month if published in London, three months if elsewhere in the Kingdom, twelve months if elsewhere in the British Dominions; and the delivery to the Stationers' Company, if demanded in writing within twelve months from publication, of one copy of the edition of which the largest number is printed, for each of four designated libraries, at Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Neglect to deposit does not vitiate the copyright, but involves a penalty of five pounds. The British statute, unlike the American, does not require any notice of copyright registration to appear in the work, proceeding, apparently, upon the presumption that all publications are registered, without notice.

There is also a registry for paintings, drawings, and photographs kept at Stationers' Hall, and on these no suits can be brought for acts committed prior to registration. In other articles, as drama, no registry is required. The terms and conditions for the various articles other than books subject to copyright vary greatly under the several acts protecting them.

The universities have perpetual copyright in works given to them outright, so long as these are printed by their own presses for their sole benefit and advantage. The Crown seems to have the right to grant patents to the Crown printers for the exclusive printing of the authorized version of the Bible, of the Book of Common Prayer, and probably of Acts of Parliament. To prevent suppression of books, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, on complaint that a copyright proprietor, after the death of an author, withholds a work from republication, are empowered to authorize the complainant to issue it, under conditions within their discretion.

Copyright in Canada is a perplexity of perplexities, because it is regulated by two sets of statutes the Imperial, applicable to the whole British Empire, and the Canadian, applicable to the Dominion of Canada alone. A work copyrighted in the United Kingdom is copyright in Canada, but a Canadian copyright holds only for Canada. The "Foreign Reprints act," passed by the British Parliament in 1847, authorized the suspension of that portion of the Imperial

statute which forbade the importation of foreign reprints of English books into Canada.

As a condition of the permission so granted, the Canadian Legislature passed a law subjecting reprints so admitted to a customs duty of twelve and one half per cent, to be finally paid over to the British author. The returns were ridiculously small-only 1084 in the ten years ending in 1876. In 1875, the Dominion Legislature passed a Copyright act, limited in its application, of course, to Canada, which after some delay was approved by the Queen. The English lawyers, however, thought it necessary to pass another Imperial act, by which it was provided that when English authors authorized the reprinting of their books for the Canadian market, such reprints (although not piracies) could not be imported into Great Britain. This law makes it possible to issue in Canada cheap reprints of English works without interfering with the more costly English editions.

These laws, apparently so complex, do not conflict. Each is good pro tanto. The net result of the whole mass of combined legislation may be summarized as follows:

1. The works of a British author cannot be reprinted in Canada without his permission, but, if he does not comply with the Canadian law, reprints may be imported into Canada from foreign countries.

2. The works of a British author who complies with the Canadian law can neither be reprinted in, nor imported into, Canada without his permission.

The circuitous way in which American authors are able to avail themselves of both these laws results from judicial interpretations of the Imperial statute.

Canada grants copyright for twenty-eight years to such as are bona fide residents of Canada, or who are citizens of any country which has an international copyright with the United Kingdom. The condition essential is printing and publication in Canada. The plates may be made elsewhere, but the impressions must be printed in Canada. Prior, or even simultâneous, publication is not necessary. The copyright will not commence until publication and registration. The cases of serial publications are provided for, and under certain conditions a temporary protection of a month is afforded to books passing through the press.

As an instance of the operation of these laws, the case of Prince and Pauper," by Mark

Twain, may be cited. This book is copyrighted in England-therefore it cannot be printed in Canada. But an edition can be and has been quietly printed out of Canada and imported and sold freely in Canada.

The French copyright system is the most liberal in existence. All copyrights, whether for literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic works, now extend fifty years beyond an author's death (law of 1866); the State has copyright in perpetuity over works published by its order or by its agents, but in a private copyright lapsing to the State for lack of heirs, the exclusive right is extinguished. To obtain a right of action in cases of piracy, the law requires the deposit of two copies of a book at the Ministry of the Interior at Paris (or at the Prefecture, if in the departments), for which a receipt is given. The decree of March, 1852, still in force, protects works of foreigners published abroad from piracy on French territory, on the sole condition of deposit as above, and any foreigner who publishes in France is on the same footing as a French author.

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Copyright throughout the German Empire extends thirty years beyond an author's deathperiod which the British Copyright Commission propose to adopt. Works of academies, etc., and anonymous works are protected for thirty years from date of publication; but an author by disclosing and registering his name can obtain copyright on an anonymous book for the full term. On a joint work the thirty years counts from the death of the last survivor. An author may reserve rights of translation by so announcing on his title-page, provided an authorized translation be commenced within one and finished within three years. Translations are protected as though original books. Piracy is punished by forfeiture, damages, and fine or imprisonment. The law provides for expert associations in each German State, nominated by the government, to advise the judges. Proceedings must be begun within three years from the act of piracy and within three months of its coming to the knowledge of the aggrieved party. A general registry book is kept at Leipzig, open to public inspection, for every entry in or extract from which fifteen sgr. (about thirty-six cents) is charged, and the entry is printed in the Börsenblatt, at the expense of the copyright proprietor. The law protects all works of native authors, whether published in or out of the German Empire, and works by a foreigner published by a

firm having its place of business or a branch office within the German Empire.

In both Holland and Belgium copyright in books has been for the author's life and twenty years after, but only on works printed and published within the country, and of which three copies, signed by printer and publisher, have been deposited with the communal authorities. New and more liberal systems are under consideration in both countries. Previous to the French Revolution Holland acknowledged the author's right as a perpetual one.

Norway grants copyright for life and fifty years, and formerly required no registration. But by a new law of June 20, 1882, a literary register was established at the University in Christiania, in which register must be entered all claims of copyright-literary and artistic-a fee of one crown (about twenty-seven cents) being charged for each entry. And of each new work and new edition so entered, one copy of the work must be deposited in the University Library at the time of publication; and in addition the law demands that of each book, print, lithograph, wood-cut, and musical composition, published during the year, a complete and perfect copy must be sent, not later than the end of January of the year next following, to the University Library. The printer is responsible for this last deposit, and a failure to deposit is subject to fine of from two to fifty crowns for each work. But for such deposits a claim for payment may be made when a work costs over ten crowns ($2.68).

Spain grants copyright for life and eighty years thereafter,-publishers of anonymous and pseudonymous works having the same rights as authors until proof of the real author is made,— providing entry is made in the Register of Intellectual Property within one year and two copies deposited. In default of registry a work becomes public property. Portugal grants copyright for life and thirty years; six copies must be deposited at the Lisbon Library.

Italy grants full copyright for life or forty years, whichever is longer. After forty years from first publication, or, if the author live beyond that date, after his death, a second term of forty years begins, in which any person, on duly declaring his intention, may republish a work, on condition of paying five per cent royalty to the copyright proprietor. The State may expropriate any work after the death of an author on paying to the proprietor a compensation named

by three experts. Government and society publications are copyrighted only for twenty years. An author may reserve rights of translation for ten years. Three copies must be deposited, and a declaration made of reservation of rights; these declarations are published for each six months in the Official Gazette.

Hayti, within a year, has adopted a copyright law with some unusual features. An author holds exclusive right during life; the widow through her life; the children for twenty years further, or other heirs, if there are no children surviving, for ten years. Unauthorized reprints are confiscated on the complaint of the proprietor of the copyright; and the author recovers from the reprinter the price of a thousand, or from a bookseller of two hundred copies, reckoned at the retail price of the author's edition.

Copyright also exists in Austria-Hungary-for life and thirty years after, no registry or deposit being required; Sweden, formerly perpetual, now for life and fifty years, no registration; Denmark, for life and thirty years, no registration or deposit; Switzerland, for life or thirty years; Russia, for life and fifty years, registration but not deposit being required, with complicated provisions as to new editions; Turkey, for forty years, or twenty for translations; Greece, for fifteen years, subject to royal extension; Mexico, which has perpetual literary copyright, registration and deposit being obligatory; Venezuela, for life and fourteen years, or deposit and registration; Chili, for life and five years; Brazil, for life and ten years; Japan, for thirty years, with extension to forty-five.