published with additions, shall, by the printer or printers thereof, be delivered to the warehouse-keeper of the said Company of Stationers, for the time being, at the Hall of the said Company, BEFORE SUCH PUBLICATION MADE, for the use of the Royal Library, and eight others there mentioned; which said warehousekeeper is required, within ten days after demand by the keepers of the respective libraries, to deliver the copy to them for the use of the aforesaid libraries: and if any proprietor, bookseller, or printer, or the said warehouse-keeper of the said Company of Stationers, shall not observe the direction of this Act therein, that then he and they so making default, in not delivering the said printed copies as aforesaid, shall forfeit five pounds for every copy not so delivered, as also the value of the said printed copy not so delivered, to be recovered by the said libraries with full costs of suit.

The 15th of Geo. III. cap. 53, sect. 6. recapitulates this clause, and states, that "Whereas the said provision has not proved effectual, but the same hath been eluded by the entry only of the title to a single volume, or of some part of such book or books, so printed and published, or reprinted and republished as aforesaid, be it enacted, That no person or persons whatsoever shall be subject to the penalties in the said act mentioned, for or by reason of the printing, &c. without the consent mentioned in the said Act, unless the title to the copy of the whole of such book, and every volume thereof, be entered, in manner directed by the said Act, in the register book of the Company of Stationers; and unless nine such copies of the whole of such book or books, and every volume thereof, printed and published, or reprinted or republished as therein mentioned, shall be actually delivered to the warehouse-keeper of the said Company, as therein directed, for the several uses of the several libraries in the said Act mentioned."

The 41 Geo. III. cap. 107. Sect. 6. enacts, "That from and after the passing of the Act, in addition to the nine copies now required by law to be delivered to the warehouse-keeper of the said Company of Stationers of each and every book or books, which shall be entered in the register book of the said Company, two other copies shall be in like manner delivered for the use of Trinity College, and the King's Inns Society's Libraries, Dublin, by the printer of all and every such books as shall hereafter be

printed and published, and the title to the copyright whereof shall be entered in the said register book of the said Company; and that the said College and Society shall have the same remedies for enforcing the delivery," &c.

Sect. 6. Penalties incurred by persons in Scotland, shall be recoverable by action before the Court of Session.

Sect. 7. The importation of Greek and Latin books printed abroad, or foreign books in any language, not prohibited by this Act.

Sect. 8. In any action brought against any person for doing any thing in pursuance of this Act, defendant may plead the General Issue, &c.

Sect. 9. The right of the Universities, or of any person or persons, to the printing or reprinting any book or copy already printed, or hereafter to be printed; neither prejudiced nor confirmed.

Sect. 10. All actions must be brought within three months. Sect. 11. After the first fourteen years, if the author be living, the copy-right shall return to him for another term of fourteen

years.

From the preceding statement it will clearly appear:

1. That the Act of Ann was brought in at the instigation of the booksellers.

2. That it gave them the means of obtaining a new and additional security for the preservation of their property, to what they had by the common law and that, in return for this, they agreed to give nine copies of all such books as they conceived it advisable to protect in that manner.

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3. That the registering the copy, and the delivery of the nine books, being both required to be made before the publication; and the warehouse-keeper of the Stationers' Company being made equally liable to the penalty, for non-delivery of the books, with the printer and bookseller, appears to show that the penalty could not apply to the non-delivery of books not entered. The process being clearly as follows:

1. The entry in Stationers' Hall register.

2. The delivery of the nine copies, at the time of such entry, by the printer to the warehouse-keeper.

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3. The demand made, by the several keepers of the libraries, of the books from the warehouse-keeper.

4. The delivery, within ten days after such demand, by the warehouse-keeper.

For the non-compliance with the second and fourth steps of this process, the Act attaches a penalty of five pounds, besides the value of the book and the costs of suit.

4. That in the whole body of that, and of the two subsequent statutes, not one word is said of the advancement of learning being the object to be effected by giving such copies; nor of any right that the said public libraries have to them. If it had been the intention of the legislature, that EVERY new book, and EVERY new edition with additions, should be delivered, it would have been the natural and easy way to effect it, to attach the penalty to the neglect of registration: as, by reference to this register, these bodies could at all times know what books were actually published, and ascertain if any printer or bookseller had deprived them of their right.

5. That the clause in the 15th of Geo. III. reciting that the provision of the Act of Ann had not proved effectual, but had been eluded, by the entry only of the title to a single volume, or some part, was merely intended to check a practice which had become prevalent, for publishers of works in numbers or volumes (such as Rapin's England, Biographia Britannica, Chambers's Cyclopædia, Universal History, &c.) to enter the title, and deliver only the first number or volume; thereby seeking to acquire a right to the penalties, without complying with the previous condition."

Had the public libraries ever understood the clause in the sense now contended for, it is not a little extraordinary that the experience of nearly seventy years had not taught them the means of rendering it somewhat more effectual. It deserves remark, that in the 15th Geo. III. cap. 53. securing to the Universities and Colleges their right to all their copies in perpetuity, (which the booksellers had only a little before lost, by a decision of the house of Lords,) these bodies are merely required to register their copies, without delivering the nine books, in order to intitle them to the same penalties as other proprietors of books. This would indicate that they had considered it merely a useless form, entirely optional; otherwise, it does seem rather extraordinary, and unfair, that after

6. That the Sect. 6. of cap. 107. 41 Geo III. intitling the two Irish libraries to the same privileges as the other nine libraries, completely recognises the exposition here given.

It may be said, what is the use of all this detail upon a point which a Court of Justice has already decided upon; and decided contrary to the view here sought to be established? The author conceives it of the greatest use, at a moment when the Legislature is called upon to consider, whether it be politic, just, or expedient, to confirm this decision. He was not a hearer of the arguments upon the trial: perhaps the points here dwelt upon have been all stated, and with much more ability than he can pretend to possess: but the deductions and inferences here made, are, he humbly conceives, those of common sense, although they may not be of law. With every respect for the great talents and profound legal acquirements of the Judges who decided this question, he cannot banish from his mind, that, upon a point in the same statute, which appears to be as clearly expressed as words can express any thing, (namely, Whether an author's perpetuity of copyright was abridged by the Act?) the bench of that day were equally divided; and that the construction, which was afterwards decided by the Supreme Court of this kingdom to be erroneous, was supported by the splendid eloquence of the great Lord Mansfield. Remembering this, and finding the effect of the decision in question will be to overturn the uniform construction and practice of a century, agreed to by all the parties interested, he has been led to examine the arguments of the learned Judges with more than usual attention; and he cannot help fancying that he has detected in them some unwarranted assumptions. He will merely confine himself to one of these,' as that appears to be the foundation of the learned

being placed on a better footing than any other proprietors, they should get rid of the burden to which all others were subject. They seem to have rested satis- fied with their common law right of protection, as they have never even registered their books.

It may be asked, however, (with reference to part of the Lord Chief Justice's argument,) Whether it is most consonant with justice, when an Act of Parliament has been in force for nearly seventy years, and a clause doubtfully expressed in it has received a uniform interpretation during that period-when,

Judge's argument; premising, that the operation of the late decision will be to intitle the nine libraries to a copy of every new book, and every new edition with additions, whether entered in the register or not; and that the warehouse-keeper will now become next to a non-entity. The two Irish libraries are clearly not intitled to any books that are not registered.

Mr. Justice Le Blanc stated: "The doubt arises upon the words, printed and published as aforesaid. Suppose the clause had been only, that nine copies of each book that shall be printed or published, or re-printed and published, shall be delivered to the warehouse-keeper, that could not have been the intention of the Legislature, because they never meant, I apprehend, to say that nine copies of ANY book, which at any time should be printed or re-printed, should be delivered; but it was, that nine copies of every book which should be printed or re-printed by any persons to whom the exclusive right of printing or re-printing is given by the first clause, shall be delivered to the register or clerk of the Company, for the use of the Universities; and as aforesaid means, that shall be printed and published, not under the restrictions of the registry, but that shall be printed and published by the persons to whom this right or privilege is given by the first section of the Act; and that appears to me the meaning of the term 'as aforesaid,' instead of confining it, as contended on the part of the defendant, to printed and published, and entered as aforesaid: if that had been the object of the Legislature, it would have said, that nine copies of each book which shall be printed and published, and entered as aforesaid, shall be delivered to the clerk for the use of the Universities: instead of which, it is printed and published as aforesaid, which means printed and published by those to whom the exclusive right of printing and publishing is given by the preceding section of the Act; and that appears to me perfectly clear."

at the end of it, a new Act confirms the said interpretation-and after the lapse of twenty-six years a third Act confirms it still more strongly-we ask, Whether is it most consonant with justice, that the same intérpretation should be adhered to; or, by setting two Acts of Parliament at variance with a preceding, that a new meaning should be given to the original Act, which it is barely possible was ever intended?