an author, by the said statute, precluded from every remedy, except on the foundation of the said statute and on the terms and conditions prescribed thereby? Yes, 6 to 5.
IV. Whether the author of any literary composition and his assigns had the sole right of printing and publishing the same in perpetuity, by the common law? Yes, 7 to 4.
V. Whether this right is any way impeached, restrained, or taken away by the statute of 8th Anne? Yes, 6 to 5.
The Lords'
decisionThese opinions, that there was perpetual copyright at common law, which was not lost by publication,but that the statute of Anne took away that right and confined remedies to the statutory provisions, were directly contrary to the previous decrees of the courts, and on a motion seconded by the Lord Chancellor, the House of Lords, 22 to 11, reversed the decree in the case at issue. This construction by the Lords, in the case of Donaldson v. Becket, of the statute of Anne, has practically "laid down the law" for England and America ever since.
ProtestsTwo protests against this action deserve note. The first, that of the universities, was met by an act of 1775, which granted to the English and Scotch universities (to which Dublin was added in 1801), and to the colleges of Eton, Westminster and Winchester, perpetual copyright in works bequeathed to and printed by them. The other, that of the booksellers, presented to the Commons February 28, 1774, set worth that the petitioners had invested large sums in the belief of perpetuity of copyright, but a bill for their relief was rejected.
Supplementary
legislationIn 1801 an act was passed authorizing suits for damages [at common law, as well as penalties under statute] during the period of protection of the statute,
