SECTION III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE SUBJECT. First, as to the principal grounds on which property in form may be, is, or ought to be based, and in accordance with which it should be extended,-whether recognized already by legal or judicial authority, or deduced from the rules which regulate the other kinds of property. Caution, however, is obviously required in doing this, and a careful regard to the peculiarity of a property "which," says Mr. Thomson," from its immateriality, can be stolen through a window without cutting out a pane of glass; which can be carried off by the eye without being found on the person." On account of these peculiarities, those subjects of legal right which most nearly resemble it render the most serviceable analogies, namely, patents for inventions, and the other species of copyright, as literature, music, the drama, &c. Copyright and invention,-an epic and an orrery,said Justice Yates, stand on the same footing; the mode of acquisition, and therefore the jus fruendi, is the same. Mr. Harrison, said the judge, spent quite as much time and labour on his timekeepers as Mr. Thomson in writing his Seasons, and the value of the former is quite equal to the latter. And his lordship probably meant somewhat more than he said. As to the existence of the right, it might perhaps be deemed sufficient to conclude the question summarily, as did Lord Lyttleton, "I cannot enter into delusive, refined, metaphysical arguments about tangibility or materiality, or the corporeal substance of literary property; it is sufficient for me that such a property exists." And if further argument were wanting, it might be deduced from the evident consciousness of a sense of reproach attending its infringement. Some of the sturdiest advocates against copyright in designs before the House of Commons disclaimed, on their own parts, the practice of that right of piracy which they maintained in theory. Mr. Tennent, after pointing out the inconsistency, says, "one small glimmering of right and justice shines through this; without moral firmness enough to avoid dishonesty, they have moral feeling enough to be ashamed of it." Still even at the present day copyright has its opponents. Lord Camden's arguments were revived the other day, and that by a periodical devoted to the fine arts, which rejoiced that though engravings were protected, pictures (as in Martin's case) were freely open for the public to use or abuse. The author indeed thought that it was perhaps a little unjust, but then he comforted the artist with the reward of "imperishable glory,"* and quoted Fuseli, "No work of genius was ever produced but for its own sake."† But Fuseli found the delights of painting compatible with the receipt of money for the picture, and it does not appear that Lord Camden accepted the glory of legal reputation in full satisfaction of his rights of salary. Had the case been fairly put to the public, they would never have grudged the artist his small premium. Suppose the few shillings which the author's right adds to the cost of a volume were marked on the cover, would it not be paid, and paid willingly? The right arises (as all property does in the first instance) by labour. There is labour in every work of art; a drawing is said to be copied from nature, but there are no lines at all in nature; the outline is the abstract creation of the artist. Some of the acts speak of securing to the artist the fruits of his labour, genius, industry, pains, &c.; and Lord Hardwick said that a copyright act was not a monopoly, and should be construed liberally. In a question between the author and his readers, the one and the many, the old rule might well be applied, of leaning to the weaker side. * Goldsmith on one occasion, on receiving the " glory" of some honorary appointment, said it was like giving ruffles to a man who wanted a shirt. + Compare Reynolds's view of the case, "Let there be buyers, there will soon be sellers." The arguments on the other side, however, refer principally not to morality but policy; a few of them a few of them may be noticed, though if the right be established it is difficult not to decide à priori, that its infringement cannot, at least in the long run, be beneficial to society. Justice, said Wordsworth, is capable of working out its own expediency. The first point is as to future advancement; there is a fear of putting manacles on science." Thus, Sayre and Moore's case speaks of retarding the progress of art; and most of the preambles to the acts express the twofold object of securing the inventor, and encouraging or advancing art,more or less expressly avowing the first as being a means of attaining the second. 66 Now there is really no fear whatever of the world of invention being too narrow for its cultivators. Any subject, natural or artificial, may be drawn and modelled in 10,000 different ways: the artist executes one and claims it, he leaves 9999 to those who come after him. In a print case the judge allowed that there could be no claim to the plants drawn in a herbal, but the claim was to the plants modo et forma as in that particular book, the flower and flower-cup, seed-vessel and seed, in that one arrangement. And in another case, “the first engraver does not claim a monopoly of the picture; he says, take the trouble of going to the picture yourself, but do not avail yourself of my labour, who have made a drawing of it." As to the increase in the cost of production, it must be recollected that in many cases it is the design alone that creates the manufacture. If dress were a mere covering, a single blanket would last a lifetime. This influence of design is recognized in the original French law as the main source of the prosperity of the silk manufacture, and was urged by the Arts' Committee in 1836, as well as the hopelessness of expecting manufacturers to employ men of talent to produce what is instantly open to general depredation. In France, at that time under the protection of copyright, the number of designs for an equal quantity of produce was four times that of our own, and this variety and superiority of taste alone enabled them to maintain their place in the market; while, on the other hand, Mr. Babbage states, that the want of copyright has, by discouraging originality, ruined the Berlin manufacture of iron ornaments. Copyright, however, is entitled to rely on its services to the purchaser, as well as the producer, in claiming the encouragement of law. It diffuses the refining influences of taste and intellectual gratification among all classes. "Be mine to bless the more mechanic skill, Thy gallery, Florence, gilds my humble walls, Copyright is in some arts unnecessary. Thus Japanning so much lies in the manual and individual dexterity that piracy is impracticable, and this indeed applies to most kinds of painting; so in engraving, the possession of the plate may sometimes almost secure the copyright, depending on the degree of facility and rapidity with which it can be reproduced by mechanical means. And the pirate again may to a certain degree be anticipated, since while the design exists only on a single plate, it may be kept secret till the whole number of copies is prepared within the house or factory, and ready to pour a flood into and fill the market. This is shown in the gradually increasing employment of indoor designers previous to the recent acts, and the lace manufacturers, who give out patterns to the cotters for execution, made much complaint of the piracy that took place before a single piece could be brought to market. In a feeble degree this principle even establishes a copyright in America; an English author can, until he publishes here, obtain a trifle for his proof sheets. But wherever piracy is advantageous, there copyright ought to step forward, and the simpler and more uniform the rights and means of defending them it affords, the better. All divisions of the subject into useful and ornamental,—into matters of importance and trivialities (as the exclusion of labels in the last designs act), lead to trouble and evasion. In the case of Sheriff and Coates the trifling nature of the patterns was urged against the right; but the chancellor (Lyndhurst) rejected the argument in toto; the design commercially was valuable. There is no measure of the amount of labour; the work of a lifetime may be concentrated into a page of mathematical symbols. The distinction in the old acts between casts or engravngs from natural or artificial objects only led to vexations and difficulties; so have the questions that have arisen as to works of mental industry or original invention. In patent law it was laid down long ago that no distinction lay between the inventions of the man of genius, the plodder, and the accidental finder,--that luck, labour and inspiration give an equal right. The design to be looked for is in the artist's work, not in the subject. Judge Best said, in a case in which the originality of a mechanical drawing reduced from another, as to the plea that plaintiff had not designed and invented the print, but only reduced it, "reduction requires labour and some skill to keep the proportions. This the defendant had the advantage of, and the making and engraving requires all the invention and design expected from an engraver. An engraver is always a copyist; but though a copyist, he produces resemblance by means very different from those employed by the painter or draftsman,—he copies by means requiring great skill and talent,—he produces effects by means of light and shade, or, as the terms of his art express it, the chiaroscuro, the due degrees of light and shade are produced by different lines and dots, and on his choice of these depends the success of the plate." His lordship concludes by expressing "the satisfaction he feels in coming to that decision upon a branch of art eminently useful, and which in no slight degree emollit mores nec sinit esse feros, and contributes to a circulation of the mechanical knowledge so necessary to our |