Literary Copyright Reform in Early Victorian England: the Framing of the 1842 Copyright Act

LITERARY COPYRIGHT REFORM IN EARLY VICTORIAN ENGLAND: THE FRAMING OF THE 1842 COPYRIGHT ACT CATHERINE SEVILLE Cambridge University Press LITERARY COPYRIGHT REFORM IN EARLY VICTORIAN ENGLAND The Framing of the 1842 Copyright Act Talfourd's ®rst copyright bill was presented in 1837, and the public and parliamentary controversy it provoked is re¯ected in contemporary pamphlets, correspondence and hundreds of petitions presented to parliament, as well as in the changing aims of the bill itself. In addition to the expected debate as to the nature of literary property and the economic effects on the publishing trade, discussion of copyright law raised broader questions: the relative values of literature and science, the importance of public education, the dangers of monopolies and the nature of public interest. In a period of social, political and technological upheaval, these were incendiary matters. Talfourd audaciously demanded not only a considerable extension of copyright term, but also international protec- tion. This book explores and sets in context the making of this crucial Act, using it to illuminate enduring issues and dif®culties in the legal concept of intellectual property. CATHERINE SEVILLE is director of studies in law at Newnham College, Cambridge. This Page Intentionally Left Blank CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN ENGLISH LEGAL HISTORY Edited by J. H. BAKER Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge Recent series titles include Sir William Scott, Lord Stowell Judge of the High Court of Admiralty 1798±1828 HENRY J. BOURGUIGNON Sir Henry Maine A study in Victorian jurisprudence R. C. J. COCKS Roman canon law in Reformation England R. H. HELMHOLZ Fundamental authority in late Medieval English law NORMAN DOE Law, politics and the Church of England The career of Stephen Lushington 1782±1873 S. M. WADDAMS The early history of the law of bills and notes A study of the origins of Anglo-American commercial law JAMES STEVEN ROGERS The law of evidence in Victorian England CHRISTOPHER ALLEN John Scott, Lord Eldon ROSE MELIKAN Literary copyright reform in Early Victorian England CATHERINE SEVILLE Engraving of Thomas Noon Talfourd (reproduced from the author's collection) LITERARY COPYRIGHT REFORM IN EARLY VICTORIAN ENGLAND THE FRAMING OF THE 1842 COPYRIGHT ACT CATHERINE SEVILLE PUBLISHED BY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS (VIRTUAL PUBLISHING) FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia http://www.cambridge.org © Catherine Seville 1999 This edition © Catherine Seville 2003 First published in printed format 1999 A catalogue record for the original printed book is available from the British Library and from the Library of Congress Original ISBN 0 521 62175 5 hardback ISBN 0 511 00916 X virtual (netLibrary Edition) FOR J. S. & A. H. S. This Page Intentionally Left Blank CONTENTS Acknowledgements page xi 1 INTRODUCTION 1 The 1842 Act ± passage and position 6 Copyright ± its nature and history 9 Talfourd and his aims 16 Con¯icting rationales 19 Alternatives to copyright ± a profession of authorship? 26 2 PETITIONS AND COPYRIGHT 33 Petitioning ± parliamentary history and background 33 Petitions ± forms and formalities 36 Petitions ± volume and subjects 37 3 CRITICS IN PARLIAMENT 40 The radical nexus 40 Political cross-currents 48 Brougham 51 Macaulay 60 4 CRITICS IN THE BOOK TRADE I: PRINT WORKERS AND THEIR ALLIES 68 Printers 69 The dispute spreads ± journeymen 1839±40 81 The process of diffusion 84 5 CRITICS IN THE BOOK TRADE II: PUBLISHING AND PUBLISHERS 100 The book trade and authors 101 Cheap publications ± the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 105 Cheap publications ± the book trade 109 ix x Contents Cooperation and organisation 111 The campaign against the bills 115 6 THE CAMPAIGN IN THE DAILY PRESS 128 London dailies 132 Evening papers 145 Conclusion 148 7 AUTHORS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF AUTHORS' ORGANISATIONS 149 Southey 153 Wordsworth ± campaign manager 159 8 THE MAKING OF THE CASE FOR THE BILL 176 Petitions ± those in favour 176 The argument in the periodicals 195 9CONCLUSION 210 Appendix I: Chronology of the bills 219 Appendix II: Successive versions of the bill 221 Appendix III: The Copyright Act 1842 258 Bibliography 277 Index 293 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a substantial debt of gratitude to Bill Cornish, whose work and teaching ®rst sparked my interest in copyright. As my super- visor he encouraged what must at ®rst have seemed an unlikely project, and his support continues. I am also very grateful to Gill Sutherland: her rigour, patience and encouragement have been invaluable. Others have helped in other ways, particularly Tom Kass, who ®rst suggested that I study law. I have been privileged to work in Newnham throughout this time. xi 1 INTRODUCTION The subject of this book is Serjeant Talfourd's back-bench attempt to reform the law of copyright, an attempt which eventually produced the Copyright Act of 1842. The idea of reform is potent in the history of England in the nineteenth century. It would be impossible to write a general history of the period without giving an account of the major constitutional reforms concerned with popular representation, which eventually trans- formed parliament. Yet other contemporary legislative reforms are arguably as striking, both in terms of their volume, and in terms of the changes which resulted. The many attempts to improve the law and its mechanisms make this period a signi®cant one for legal history. In the decade following the 1832 Reform Act, approaches to government in the widest sense were re-examined and trans- formed. This process had protean qualities: striking though the direction and velocity of the immediate changes could be, they often represented only the ®rst phase of lengthy trajectories. Nevertheless, it would be foolhardy (and unduly Whiggish) to regard these changes as inevitable; they were the product of many complex and con¯icting forces. Although nineteenth-century legislators did create a battery of signi®cant reforms, the ante- cedents and characteristics of individual measures varied consider- ably. To take the example central to this book, the changes to copyright law which resulted from the 1842 Copyright Act were not overtly typical of a reforming brief. However, the efforts to promote the various copyright measures (which began in 1836) were profoundly affected by the prevailing mood of reform, and the methods and mechanisms associated with it. Talfourd had originally envisaged a thoroughgoing consolidation of all aspects of copyright, an aim which might have been thought consistent with general reforming objectives. Such an assumption ignores the 1 2 Introduction complex and varied character of reforming activity at this time. Copyright instead became characterised as harmful by a signi®cant body of popular opinion, and a campaign of resistance was organised. After a lengthy battle, the bill's sponsors were forced to settle for the compromise effected by the 1842 Act. Although it is possible to reduce the principle of reform to little more than a Benthamite slogan, this is to ignore the subtlety and pervasiveness of the concept. The Great Reform Act of 1832 has (and had) a well-developed popular image as the keynote reform of the period. Its symbolic importance was certainly considerable. In terms of practical results, however, the 1832 Act's reputation bears only limited examination: later reform Acts, and related legislation, were arguably more signi®cant.1 Inevitably, the close link between the legislative and constitutional aspects of parliamentary reform ensured ample publicity for any statutory changes in this area. This should not be allowed to obscure the many other social and economic reforms of the period, which often required implementing legislation.2 In addition, there were deliberate attempts to render the law itself more coherent and accessible; speci®c legislative reforms covered many aspects of practice and procedure.3 1 For details of these see, for example, John Cannon, Parliamentary reform, 1640±1832 (Cambridge, 1973); Michael Brock, The Great Reform Act (1973); Norman Gash, Politics in the age of Peel (1953); Francis B. Smith, The making of the second Reform Bill (Cambridge, 1966); Norman Gash, Pillars of government and other essays on state and society, c. 1770±c. 1880 (1986); Andrew Jones, The politics of reform: 1884 (Cambridge, 1972); Martin D. Pugh, The making of modern British politics, 1867±1939 (1982). 2 For example, the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 began a process of local government reform which continued throughout the century. In another sphere, the New Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 made controversial changes intended to reduce expenditure. Other measures addressed a range of issues including public health and education, and also dealt with more general matters such as ®nancial and administrative ef®ciency. Geoffrey B. A. M. Finlayson, `The politics of municipal reform, 1835', English Historical Review 81 (1966), 673±92; Gillian Sutherland (ed.), Studies in the growth of nineteenth-century government (1972); Derek Fraser (ed.), The new poor law in the nineteenth century (1976). 3 For example Peel's Acts, which consolidated the criminal law and reduced the use of capital punishment. A considerable programme of reforms resulted, both before and after the 1832 Reform Act. For con®rmation see Holdsworth's catalogue of statutory changes (vol. XIII, ch. 4) which details an extraordinary list of interventions, large and small. Sir William Holdsworth, A history of English law, 16 vols. and index (1903±52); Leon Radzinowicz, A history of English criminal law (1948); William R. Cornish and Geoffrey de N. Clark, Law and society in England, 1750±1950 (1989). Introduction 3 The notion of law reform is certainly not peculiar to the nineteenth century. It has always been necessary for the law to respond to society's needs, sometimes willingly, sometimes under pressure.

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