The
Statute of Anne, 1710
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 teen 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 Peny [sic] 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 Queens [sic] 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 Majesties [sic] 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 Entred [sic], 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 Entred [sic], as aforesaid, for every of which
several Entries, Six Pence shall be Paid, and no more; which said Register-Book
may, at all Seasonable [sic; should be: Reasonable] and Convenient times, be
Resorted to, and Inspected by any Bookseller, Printer, or other Person, for the
Purposes before mentioned, without any Fee or Reward; and the Clerk of the said
Company of Stationers, shall, when and as often as thereunto required, give a
Certificate under his Hand of such Entry or Entries, and for every such
Certificate, may take a Fee not exceeding Six Pence.
Provided nevertheless, That if the Clerk of the said Company of Stationers, for the time being shall Refuse or Neglect to Register, or make such Entry or Entries, or to give such Certificate, being thereunto Required by the Author or Proprietor of such Copy or Copies, in the Presence of Two or more Credible Witnesses, That then such Person and Persons so refusing, Notice being first duly given of such Refusal, by an Advertisement in the Gazette, shall have the like Benefit, as if such Entry or Entries, Certificate or Certificates had been duly made and given; and that the Clerks so refusing, shall, for any such Offence, Forfeit to the Proprietor of such Copy or Copies the Sum of Twenty Pounds, to be Recovered in any of Her Majesties [sic] 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.
Provided nevertheless, and it is hereby
further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Bookseller or
Booksellers, Printer or Printers, shall, after the said Five and twentieth Day
of March, One thousand seven hundred and ten, set a Price upon, or Sell or
Expose to Sale, any Book or Books at such a Price or Rate as shall be Conceived
by any Person or Persons to be High and Unreasonable; It shall and may be Lawful
for any Person or Persons to make Complaint thereof to the Lord Archbishop of
Canterbury for the time being; the Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Great
Seal of Great Britain for the time being; the Lord Bishop of London for the time
being; the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queens [sic] Bench, the Lord Chief
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of
Exchequer, for the time being; the Vice-Chancellors of the Two Universities for
the time being, in that part of Great Britain called England; the Lord President
of the Sessions for the time being; the Lord Justice General for the time being;
the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer for the time being; the Rector of the
College of Edinburgh for the time being, in that part of Great Britain called
Scotland; who, or any one of them, shall and have hereby full Power and
Authority from time to time, to Send for, Summon, or Call before him or them
such Bookseller or Booksellers, Printer or Printers, and to Examine and Enquire
of the reason of the Dearness and Inhauncement of the Price or Value of such
Book or Books by him or them so Sold or Exposed to Sale; and if upon such
Enquiry and Examination it shall be found, that the Price of such Book or Books
is Inhaunced, or any wise too High or Unreasonable, Then and in such case, the
said Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper, Bishop of London,
two Chief Justices, Chief Baron, Vice-Chancellors of the Universities, in that
part of Great Britain called England, and the said Lord President of the
Sessions, Lord Justice General, Lord Chief Baron, and Rector of the College of
Edinburgh, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, or any one or more of
them, so Enquiring and Examining, have hereby full Power and Authority to Reform
and Redress the same, and to Limit and Settle the Price of every such Printed
Book and Books, from time to time, according to the best of their Judgements,
and as to them shall seem Just and Reasonable; and in case of Alteration of the
Rate or Price from what was Set or Demanded by such Bookseller or Booksellers,
Printer or Printers, to Award and Order such Bookseller and Booksellers, Printer
and Printers, to Pay all the Costs and Charges that the Person or Persons so
Complaining shall be put unto, by reason of such Complaint, and of the causing
such Rate or Price to be so Limited and Settled; all which shall be done by the
said Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper, Bishop of
London, two Chief Justices, Chief Baron, Vice Chancellors of the Two
Universities, in that part of Great Britain called England, and the said Lord
President of the Sessions, Lord Justice General, Lord Chief Baron, and Rector of
the College of Edinburgh, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, or any
one of them, by Writing under their Hands and Seals, and thereof Publick Notice
shall be forthwith given by the said Bookseller or Booksellers, Printer or
Printers, by an Advertisement in the Gazette; and if any Bookseller or
Booksellers, Printer or Printers, shall, after such Settlement made of the said
Rate and Price, Sell, or expose to Sale any Book or Books, at a higher or
greater Price than what shall have been so Limited and Settled, as aforesaid,
then and in every such case such Bookseller and Booksellers, Printer and
Printers, shall Forfeit the Sum of Five Pounds for every such Book so by him,
her, or them Sold or Exposed to Sale; One Moiety thereof to the Queens [sic]
most Excellent Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and the other Moiety to any
Person or Persons that shall Sue for the same, to be Recovered, with Costs of
Suit, in any of Her Majesties [sic] 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.
Provided always, and it is hereby
Enacted, That Nine Copies of each Book or Books, upon the best Paper, that from
and after the said Tenth Day of April, One thousand seven hundred and ten, shall
be Printed and Published, as aforesaid, or Reprinted and Published with
Additions, shall, by the Printer and Printers thereof, be Delivered to the
Warehouse-Keeper of the said 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, the Libraries of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the
Libraries of the Four Universities in Scot land, the Library of Sion College in
London, and the Library commonly called the Library belonging to the Faculty of
Advocates at Edinburgh respectively; which said Warehouse-Keeper, is hereby
required, within Ten Days after Demand by the Keepers of the respective
Libraries, or any Person or Persons by them or any of them Authorised to Demand
the said Copy, to Deliver the same, 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, besides the value of the said Printed
Copies, the sum of Five Pounds for every Copy not so Delivered, as also the
value of the said Printed Copy not so Delivered, the same to be Recovered by the
Queens [sic] Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and by the Chancellor, Masters,
and Scholars of any of the said Universities, and by the President and Fellows
of Sion College, and the said Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, with their full
Costs respectively.
Provided always, and be it further
Enacted, That if any Person or Persons incur the Penalties contained in this
Act, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, they shall be recoverable by
any Action before the Court of Session there.
Provided, That nothing in this Act
contained do extend, or shall be construed to extend, to Prohibit the
Importation, Vending, or Selling of any Books in Greek, Latin, or any other
Foreign Language Printed beyond the Seas; Any thing in this Act contained to the
contrary notwithstanding.
And be it further Enacted by the
Authority aforesaid, That if any Action or Suit shall be Commenced or Brought
against any Person or Persons whatsoever, for doing or causing to be done any
thing in pursuance of this Act, the Defendants in such Action
may Plead the General Issue, and give the Special Matter in Evidence; and if
upon such Action a Verdict be given for the Defendant, or the Plaintiff become
Nonsuited, or Discontinue his Action, then the Defendant shall have and recover
his full Costs,
for which he shall have the same Remedy as a Defendant in any case by Law hath.
Provided, That nothing in this Act
contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, either to Prejudice or
Confirm any Right that the said Universities, or any of them, or any Person or
Persons have, or claim to have, to the Printing or Reprinting any Book or Copy
already Printed, or hereafter to be Printed.
Provided
Provided nevertheless, That all Actions, Suits, Bills, Indictments, or Informations for any Offence that shall be Committed against this Act, shall be Brought, Sued, and Commenced within Three Months next after such Offence Committed, or else the same shall be Void and of none Effect.
Provided always, That after the Expiration of the said Term of Fourteen Years, the sole Right of Printing or Disposing of Copies shall return to the Authors thereof, if they are then Living, for another Term of Fourteen Years.
FINIS.