In The Eighth Year Of The Reign Of Queen Anne.
An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Vesting the Copies of
Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such Copies, during the
Times therein mentioned.
Whereas Printers, Booksellers, and other Persons, have of late
frequently taken the Liberty of Printing, Reprinting, and Publishing, or
causing to be Printed, Reprinted, and Published Books, and other
Writings, without the Consent of the Authors or Proprietors of such
Books and Writings, to their very great Detriment, and too often to the
Ruin of them and their Families: For Preventing therefore such Practices
for the future, and for the Encouragement of Learned Men to Compose and
Write useful Books; May it please Your Majesty, that it may be Enacted,
and be it Enacted by the Queens most Excellent Majesty, by and with the
Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in
this present Parliament Assembled, and by the Authority of the same,
That from and after the Tenth Day of April, One thousand seven hundred
and ten, the Author of any Book or Books already Printed, who hath not
Transferred to any other the Copy or Copies of such Book or Books, Share
or Shares thereof, or the Bookseller or Booksellers, Printer or
Printers, or other Person or Persons, who hath or have Purchased or
Acquired the Copy or Copies of any Book or Books, in order to Print or
Reprint the same, shall have the sole Right and Liberty of Printing such
Book and Books for the Term of One and twenty Years, to Commence from
the said Tenth Day of April, and no longer; and that the Author of any
Book or Books already Composed and not Printed and Published, or that
shall hereafter be Composed, and his Assignee, or Assigns, shall have
the sole Liberty of Printing and Reprinting such Book and Books for the
Term of fourteen
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Years, to Commence from the Day of the First Publishing the same, and no
longer; And that if any other Bookseller, Printer, or other Person
whatsoever, from and after the Tenth Day of April, One thousand seven
hundred and ten, within the times Granted and Limited by this Act, as
aforesaid, shall Print, Reprint, or Import, or cause to be Printed,
Reprinted, or Imported any such Book or Books, without the Consent of
the Proprietor or Proprietors thereof first had and obtained in Writing,
Signed in the Presence of Two or more Credible Witnesses; or knowing the
same to be so Printed or Reprinted, without the Consent of the
Proprietors, shall Sell, Publish, or Expose to Sale, or cause to be
Sold, Published, or Exposed to Sale, any such Book or Books, without
such Consent first had and obtained, as aforesaid, Then such Offender or
Offenders shall Forfeit such Book or Books, and all and every Sheet or
Sheets, being part of such Book or Books, to the Proprietor or
Proprietors of the Copy thereof, who shall forthwith Damask and make
Waste-Paper of them: And further, That every such Offender or Offenders,
shall Forfeit One Penny for every sheet which shall be found in his,
her, or their Custody, either Printed or Printing, Published or Exposed
to Sale, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act, the one
Moiety thereof to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, Her Heirs and
Successors, and the other Moiety thereof to any Person or Persons that
shall Sue for the same, to be Recovered in any of Her Majesty's Courts
of Record at Westminster, by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or
Information, in which no Wager of Law, Essoign, Privilege, or
Protection, or more than one Imparlance, shall be allowed.
And whereas many Persons may through Ignorance Offend against this Act,
unless some Provision be made whereby the Property in every such Book,
as is intended by this Act to be Secured to the proprietor or
Proprietors thereof, may be ascertained, as likewise the Consent of such
Proprietor or Proprietors for the Printing or Reprinting of such Book or
Books may from time to time be known; Be it therefore further Enacted by
the Authority aforesaid, That nothing in this Act contained shall be
construed to extend to subject any Bookseller, Printer, or other Person
whatsoever, to the Forfeitures or Penalties therein mentioned, for or by
reason of the Printing or Reprinting of any Book or Books without such
Consent, as aforesaid, unless the Title to the Copy of such Book or
Books hereafter Published shall, before such Publication be Entered, in
the Register-Book of the Company of Stationers, in such manner as hath
been usual, which Register-Book shall at all times be kept at the Hall
of the said Company, and unless such Consent of the Proprietor or
Proprietors be in like manner Entered, as aforesaid, for every of which
several Entries, Six Pence shall be Paid, and no more; which said
Register-Book may, at all Reasonable and Convenient times, be Resorted
to, and Inspected by any Bookseller, Printer, or other Person, for the
Purposes before mentioned, without