parties, to accomplish the formalities necessary for obtaining a new certificate, an interim license is given.1

The entry on the register is the proof of the property of the ship, so that whatever transaction may have taken place, he who appears there in such capacity is considered by law the proprietor, and his creditors may attach accordingly. The effect of this rule on the conveyance of vessels will be considered under the subject of Sale.

CHAPTER V.

COPYRIGHT IN LITERATURE AND WORKS OF ART.

SECT. 1.-Statutory Rules.

By a late act (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45), the laws relating to the constitution and protection of literary copyright have been consolidated. The substance of the act will be given in the following summary, along with such law relating to copyright as still subsists under previous acts unrepealed.

Constitution of Copyright in Books.-The word “book,” by the interpretation of the act, means "every volume, part or division of a volume, pamphlet, sheet of letter-press, sheet of music, map, chart, or plan, separately published" (§ 2). The copyright of every book published after the date of the act (1st July 1842) is to be in existence for seven years after the death of the author, and if the seventh year should elapse before the expiry of forty-two years from the publication of the work, then until the expiry of the forty-two years. Copyright in a book published after the author's death is to subsist for forty-two years from the date of publication, and is to be "the property of the proprietor of the author's manuscript" (§ 3).

Extension. The extended period is to apply to copyrights existing under the old law at the time of the passing of the act, where they are held by the author or his representatives. If such a copyright, however, belong in whole or in part to "a publisher or other person who shall have acquired it for other consideration than that of natural love and affection," it is not to exist for the continued term, unless "the author

18 & 9 Vict. c. 89, § 29.- Morton v. Black, 11th January 1843; M'Arthurs v. M'Brair, 20th June 1844.

66

of such book, if he shall be living, or the personal representative of such author, if he shall be dead," join with the publisher-proprietor in making an entry of the continued copyright in the Stationers' Hall Register, according to the first form provided by the act. The meaning of the term personal representative" here used, may in some cases give rise to doubt. It is plain, from the term employed, and from a provision in the act, which makes copyright personal property, that it is the person who succeeds to the moveable, as in contradistinction to the successor to the heritable estate, who possesses the privilege. Where there is but one next of kin succeeding to the unattested moveable property, there can be no doubt that the privilege is in him. Where there is more than one so succeeding, it would appear that the concurrence of all is requisite. Where there is a regularly executed testament, appointing an executor, it would seem that he is the person entitled to concur in registering the extension. If the act viewed this concurrence as an article of sale, it would be held that it must go to the benefit of the succession generally, and that all who are interested therein -next of kin, legatees, and creditors-would have an interest in the disposal of the privilege. But it is not viewed as an article of commerce. One person only, the purchaser of the original copyright, is the person who may hold this extension of it, and the form enables him to take the privilege to himself, provided he has got the statutory concurrence. The author being dead, the fitting person to give this concurrence is the individual who represents him in all the privileges and obligations to which his moveable property is amenable. It would appear that the person who happens to be the representative at any given moment, between the author's death and the expiry of the old period of copyright, is the person entitled to concur in the continuance, and that it is not necessary, after the concurrence of a nearer representative of the author has been obtained, to produce that of the person who happens to be representative at the time of the expiry of the old copyright.

Periodicals, &c.-An important improvement is made in fixing the copyright of contributions to works which are produced by the joint efforts of various persons, in emendation of the very doubtful state of the law as it previously stood. The person who publishes or projects as proprietor, " any Encyclopædia, Review, Magazine, Periodical work, or work published in a series of books or parts, or any book whatsoever," is proprietor of the copyright of all contributions,

that are made to it on the understanding that he is to be their proprietor, and that are paid for by him. This privilege extends to works projected either before or after the passing of the act, and is to be the same as the author's copyright, with this difference, that in the case of contributions to "reviews, magazines, or other periodical works of a like nature," on the expiry of twenty-eight years from the first publication, the right of republishing them separately is to revert to the author during the enlarged period of copyright appointed by the act. It is not expressly said that the author's representatives are to have such a right. During the original copyright of twenty-eight years, the proprietor-publisher is not entitled to publish any such contribution separately, without the consent of the author, or those having right from him. These provisions are not to affect the right of any author to print his contributions in a separate form, " who by any contract, express or implied, may have reserved, or may hereafter reserve to himself such right" (§ 18).

Universities.-A perpetual copyright is held by universities in any MSS., deposited with them in order that the profits of publication may be applied to the advancement of learning. The privilege ceases unless the books "are printed only at their own printing-presses within the said universities and colleges respectively, and for their sole advantage."2 This right is left untouched by the consolidation act (§ 27).

Lectures.-Public lecturers have a copyright,-protecting their lectures from publication by those who have obtained liberty to hear them, by the payment of fees or otherwise.3 When such lectures have been published with the sanction of the authors, a copyright is created in them of the same nature and duration as that of other books.4

Dramatic and Musical Works.-Dramatic authors are protected against the performance of their works on the stage without their consent. The right is absolute and indefeasible as to all pieces which are not printed and published. As to those which are published, it was fixed at the old copy-right period, and thence during the author's life if he be alive. Those published more than ten years before the passing of the act (10th June 1833) are not protected. By the consolidation act, the privilege is extended during the additional term of copyright created by the new act, and musical compositions are placed in the same position. The first performance is in both cases,

15 Geo. III. c. 53, § 1.-2 Ibid. § 3.3 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 65, § 1.--Ibid. § 4.5 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 15.

for the purposes of the act, to be deemed the equivalent of the publication of a book (§ 20).

Engravings.-Those who invent or engrave, or cause to be invented or engraved, Works of Art, Maps or Plans, on plates, enjoy a copyright in them for twenty-eight years from the day of publication.1

Sculpture.-Copyright is constituted in Sculpture, in so far as respects publication by Casts. It exists for fourteen years from the first publication,2 and at the end of that time for another similar period, if the artist be alive and has not disposed of his right.3 The name of the proprietor, and the date, must be marked on each cast or copy before publication.*

International Copyright.-By 7 & 8 Vict. c. 12, provision was made for enabling the crown, by order in council, to extend the privileges of the British copyright to works first published in any state which gives a like privilege to the productions of this country. The privilege may apply to Books, Prints, Sculpture and other works of Art, Music, and the Drama. It is specially provided, that nothing in the act is to be held to prevent the publication of a translation of any work enjoying copyright by virtue of the act. It provides also, that no work published abroad subsequently to the passing of the act (10th May 1844), shall enjoy any copyright in the British dominions, unless in terms of the act. An order in council of 27th August 1846 ratifies a treaty with Prussia, creating an international copyright for the ordinary British period, in relation to Books, Prints, Sculpture, Music, and The Drama.

Registration and Transfer.-A register of copyrights is appointed to be kept at Stationers' Hall, open to inspection for a fee of one shilling for every entry searched for or inspected. Certified and probative extracts are issued for a fee of five shillings each. Dramatic and musical pieces may be entered, whether they be in manuscript or not (§§ 11, 22). The proprietor of any copyright may, paying a fee of five shillings, enter in the register "the title of such book, the time of the first publication thereof, the name and place of abode of the publisher thereof, and the name and place of abode of the proprietor of the copyright of the said book, and of any portion of such copyright," in the form provided by the schedule of the act. The publishers of encyclopædias and serial and periodical works, may obtain the benefit of registration by entering the title, and the time of publishing

18 Geo. II. c. 13. 7 Geo. III. c. 38, §§ 1, 7. 17 Geo. III. c. 57.* 54 Geo. III. c. 56, § 1.—3 Ibid. § 6.—4 Ibid. § 1.

the first number, or the first after the passing of the act, with the name and address of the proprietor and those of the publisher (§ 19). Entry may be made of a dramatic piece or musical composition in MS., by the title and the names and designations of the author and proprietor (§ 20). A registered proprietor may assign his interest as registered, by an entry of the assignment and the name and designation of the assignee, also in the terms of a form provided by the act. "And such assignment so entered, shall be effectual in law to all intents and purposes whatsoever, without being subject to any stamp or duty, and shall be of the same force and effect as if such assignment had been made by deed" (§ 13). The assignment of a dramatic piece or musical composition, does not convey the right to perform it, unless the entry specify such intention (§ 22). Owing to the Stationers' Company being solely within the jurisdiction of the English courts, the remedy, in the case of any entry held to be unjust, is by application to one of the three Common law Courts of Westminster Hall (§ 14).

Privileged Libraries.-The British Museum is entitled to a copy on the best paper-of every book published for the first time, of every edition with alterations, and of every edition of a book of which a preceding edition has not been lodged there (§ 6). The following libraries are entitled each to an ordinary sale copy of every new book, and of every edition with alterations or additions, viz.: the Bodleian at Oxford; the Public Library at Cambridge; the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh; and Trinity College Library at Dublin (§ 8). The copy on best paper for the British Museum is deliverable within three months after publication (§§ 6 & 7). The copies for the other libraries are deliverable within one month after a demand made in writing, within the year after publication, by an authorized officer of the Stationers' Company or of the privileged libraries respectively (§ 8). A publisher may deliver his copies at the libraries, instead of sending them through Stationers' Hall, and is entitled to a receipt for them (§ 9). In the case of default, the librarian or other authorized officer of the library may recover, besides the value of the book, the sum of £5 for each book withheld, either on summary conviction before two justices of peace, or by an ordinary action (§ 10).

Miscellaneous. It is provided that copyright is to be considered as personal or moveable property (§ 25). If, after the death of an author, the proprietor of the copyright of his book refuses to publish it, or to allow it to be published,