OF INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT WITH SPECIAL SECTIONS ON THE COLONIES AND BY WILLIAM BRIGGS, LL.D., D.C.L. M.A., B.SC., F.C.S., F.R.A.S. London STEVENS & HAYNES 13 BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR, W.C. PREFACE. LITTLE apology ought to be needed for the issue of this, the first work in English on the Law of International Copyright, a subject of such importance as to call for exposition in every civilised language. Continental readers possess an excellent account, Du Droit des Auteurs et des Artistes dans les Rapports Internationaux, by Dr. Alcide Darras, published the year following that most important of all international agreements on the subject-the Berne Convention of 1886. But the English standpoint differs materially from that of continental nations, as the present chapters on the Berne Convention abundantly show. In a great measure this is due to the constant reference to that scrap-heap of English Copyright legislation, the codifying Literary Copyright Act of 1842. Increasingly liberal interpretations of the Courts bring our domestic legislation a little nearer to the standards of other leading civilised nations, but it still suffers considerably by comparison with them. The relation of International Law to domestic Law in England differs widely from that which generally obtains on the Continent, and consequently the interpretation of International Law calls for special treatment. In the preparation of this work I am indebted to Dr. Darras for many suggestions, and also for his kind permission to make use of the many interesting historical instances concerning international piracies of intellectual works. |