CHAPTER XVI. NEWSPAPERS. Newspapers. THE Acts of Parliament on the subject of the press are 36 Geo. 3, c. 8; 39 Geo. 3, c. 79; 51 Geo. 3, c. 65; 55 Geo. 3, c. 65; 55 Geo. 3. c. 101; 60 Geo. 3 and 1 Geo. 4, c. 9; 11 Geo. 4 and 1 Wm. 4, c. 73; 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 76; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 12; 5 & 6 Vict. c. 82; 9 & 10 Vict. c. 33; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 59. They were, with the exceptions hereafter enumerated, repealed by "The Newspapers, Printers, and Reading Rooms Repeal Act, 1869" (the 32 & 33 Vict. c. 24) (a). Name and abode of printer to appear. Every person printing any paper, except bills, bank notes, bonds, deeds, agreements, receipts, &c., or any paper printed by the authority of any public board or public office (b), for profit, must keep one copy at least of such paper, and write or print thereon the name (c) and' abode of his employer, and, if required, produce and shew the same to any justice of the peace within six months. next after the printing, on penalty, in case of neglect or refusal, of the sum of £20 (d). If any person file a bill for the discovery of the name of any person concerned as printer, publisher, or proprietor of any newspaper, or of any matters relative to the printing or publishing of any newspaper, in order the more effectually to bring or carry on any suit or action for damages alleged to have been sustained by reason of any slanderous or libellous matter contained in any such newspaper respecting (a) App. xciv. such person, it is provided by the 19th section of the 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 76 (a), that it shall not be lawful for the defendant to plead or demur to such bill. He may be compelled to make the discovery required, which discovery, however, cannot be used in any proceeding against the defendant except in that for which the discovery is made. By the 2 & 3 Vict. c. 12, s. 2, it is provided that every person who shall print any paper or book whatsoever which shall be meant to be published or dispersed, and who shall not print upon the front of every such paper, if the same shall be printed on one side only, or upon the first or last leaf of every paper or book consisting of more than one leaf, in legible characters, his or her name and usual place of abode or business, and every person who shall publish or disperse, or assist in publishing or dispersing any printed paper or book on which the name and place of abode of the person printing the same shall not be printed as aforesaid, shall, for every copy of such paper so printed by him or her, forfeit a sum of not more than £5. In the case of books or papers printed at the University Press of Oxford or the Pitt Press of Cambridge, the printer, instead of printing his name thereon, is to print the following words: "Printed at the University Press, Oxford," or, "The Pitt Press, Cambridge," as the case may be (b). These enactments do not extend to impressions of engravings, or the printing of the name and address or business or profession of any person, and the articles in which he deals, or to any papers for the sale of estates or goods by auction or otherwise (c). CAP. XVI. Prosecutions must be commenced within three months Prosecutions to be comafter the penalty is incurred; and where the penalty in- menced within curred does not exceed £20 it may be recovered before three months, any justice of the peace for the county or place where the same may have been incurred, or where the offending (a) App. xcviii. CAP. XVI. party may happen to be (a); one moiety of such penalty to the informer and the other to Her Majesty. All proceed ings to be con ducted in the name of the attorney or solicitorgeneral. Copyright in newspaper, though registration unnecessary. By the 4th section of the 2 & 3 Vict. c. 12, and 9 & 10 Vict. c. 33, s. 2 (b), no action for penalties may be commenced except in the name of the attorney or solicitorgeneral in England, or the Queen's advocate in Scotland; and every action, bill, plaint, or information which may be commenced or prosecuted in the name or names of any other person or persons, and any proceeding thereon, are thereby declared null and void to all intents and purposes (c). In Cox v. The Land and Water Company (d) it was contended that newspapers being but ephemeral productions, seldom, if ever, reprinted, could not properly be the subject of copyright. But the Vice-Chancellor decided otherwise, remarking that the idea of there being no copyright at all in newspaper articles was repugnant to common sense and common honesty. It is not necessary for newspapers to register under the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 45. The object of that Act in requiring registration was to let the public know when the copyright in a work would expire. Registration was clearly unnecessary for this purpose in the case of a newspaper, which, therefore, was not within the policy of the Act; neither was it within the words. By the 2nd section "book" was to include "every volume, part, or division of a volume, pamphlet, sheet of letterpress, sheet of music, map, chart, or plan separately published." Now a newspaper is not within any one of these words; it is a well-known species of publication, and would have been inserted by name if intended to be included (e). (a) 39 Geo. 3, c. 79, ss. 35, 36. (b) App. xcviii. xcix. CHAPTER XVII. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. Non erit alia lex Romæ, alia Athenis; alia nunc alia posthac, sed et apud omnes gentes et omnia tempora una eademque lex obtinebit.-CICERO. INTERNATIONAL law is entirely the offspring of modern International civilization, and is the latest important discovery in copyright the political science. offspring of modern civilization. The origin and progress of international law is itself a remarkable step in the march of civilization. Nations now begin to acknowledge their subjection to laws in conformity with natural justice and reason, as in the very origin of society individuals acknowledged themselves so bound. And the development of international law will proceed amongst the civilized nations of the earth, until citizens can enjoy, in foreign countries, all the rights which they enjoy in their own. Commerce, the influence of which unites the human family by one of its strongest ties, the desire of supplying mutual wants, demands an international code for the civilized nations of the earth. Art demands that the property in its inventions should be secured by an international law of patents. Literature, that the property in its works should be secured by international copyright. International copyright is regulated by the 7 Vict: c. 12, International explained by the 15 Vict. c. 12 (a). copyright regulated by and 15 Vict. c. 12. The former repealed the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 59, which had 7 Vict. c. 12, been found "insufficient to enable Her Majesty to confer upon authors of books first published in foreign countries copyright of the like duration, and with the like remedies for the infringement thereof, which were conferred and pro(a) App. liv. lxxv. Q CAP. XVII. vided by the said Copyright Amendment Act (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45), with respect to authors of books first published in the British dominions." The Act of 1837 has re to books. Formerly, if a book were written by a foreigner and published abroad, a person who purchased the right to publish here could not enjoy the right exclusively (a). To remedy this, and to afford protection in this country to the authors of books first published in foreign countries, in cases where protection should be afforded in such foreign countries to the authors of books first published here, the International Copyright Act, 1837, was passed. This Act, however, did not empower Her Majesty to ference solely confer any exclusive right of representing or performing dramatic pieces or musical compositions first published in foreign countries upon the authors thereof, nor to extend the privilege of copyright to prints and sculpture first published abroad; it merely had reference to books. Enlargement of the power In order to confer such power an Act of Parliament was conferred on passed in 1844 to amend the law. By this Act (b) Her Her Majesty Majesty was empowered by any order in council to grant of concluding international the privilege of copyright for such period as should be de copyright conventions. fined in such order (not exceeding the term allowed in this country) to the authors, inventors and makers of books, prints, articles of sculpture, and other works of art, or any particular class of them, to be defined in such order, which should, after a future time to be specified in such order, be first published in any foreign country, to be named in such order. And Her Majesty was also empowered by any order in council to direct that the authors of dramatic pieces and musical compositions, which should, after a future time to be specified in such order, be first publicly represented or performed in any foreign country, to be named in such order, should have the sole liberty of representing or performing in any part of the British dominions such dramatic pieces or musical compositions during such period as should be defined in such order, not exceeding the period allowed (a) Guichard v. Mori, 9 L. J. (Ch.) 227. (b) 7 Vict. c. 12; App. liv. |