PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Literary Property Act , Madrid (1847)

Source: Archivo del Congreso de los Diputados, Exp. Propiedad Literaria (1847)

Citation:
Literary Property Act , Madrid (1847), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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Chapter 1 Page 1


            
            
            
                                    N. 203
                                          
      Literary Property
      
                        
      
            Act passed on 30 April 1847; on literary
            property
                        
            
            
                  
                                          
                                          
                                    
      
                                          



Chapter 1 Page 2


      CONGRESS
       OF
      DEPUTIES
            
            
                        Madame
                                          
            Having taken into consideration the legislative
      project on literary property submitted to the Cortes
      by the government of Your Majesty, the Congress of
      Deputies has approved, in accordance with the Senate, -
      the following:
            
                  Title I
            Of Authors' Rights
                  
            Article 1- By virtue of this law,
      the term literary property refers to the
      exclusive right given to authors of original
      writings to reproduce them or authorise
      their reproduction by means of manuscript
      printed, lithographed copies or by
      any other similar means.                         
      
            Article 2 - The property right declared
      in the preceding article belongs to the authors
      for life and it passes on to their heirs-at-law
      or testamentary heirs for fifty years.






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            Article 3- . Identical right belongs to:
      
      
            1. Translators in verse of written
      works in spoken languages.
      
            2. Translators in verse or prose
      of works written in dead languages.
      
            3. Authors of sermons, pleadings,
      lectures or any other speeches given
      in public and and authors of articles
      and original poems in newspapers,
      when these different writings have been
      compiled in a collection.
      
            4. Authors of geographical charts,
      musical composers, calligraphers and
      draughtsmen except those in relation to
      drawings used in textiles; furniture and
      other items of everyday use, that shall be
      covered by the rules enacted or to be
      enacted for the protection of industrial
      property.
      
            5. Painters and sculptors regarding
      the reproduction of their works by engraving
      or by any other means.
      
            Article 4- . It belongs to the author
      for life and it passes on to their heirs
      for twenty five years:
      
            1. The property of the writings specified
      in the third paragraph of the preceding article
      article, if their its authors had not compile them
      in collections.
      
            2. The property of translators in prose
      of works written in spoken languages,taking
      into account that they shall not be able to
      avid the publication of different translations
      of the same work.
      
            If the first translator initiates



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      proceedings against a new translation, claiming
      that such translation does not constitute a
      new work derived from the original but a reproduction
      of his work with slight modifications, the judge
      shall admit the claim and shall decide after hearing
      the report of two expert witnesses appointed by the parties
      and a third expert appointed in case of disagreement.
      
            For the purposes of this law, the edition in
      Spanish of an original work made by a foreign
      author already published in his contry in his own
      language shall be considered a translation.
      
            
            Article 5- The property of the following works
      shall last for fifty years from the day of publication
      and it belongs to:
      
            1. The state in respect to the works published
      by the government at public expense.
            
      
            2. Any scientific, literary or artistic societies
      to which the law grants corporate personality, in respect
      of their commissioned works and their editions of
      unpublished works.
      
            This article shall apply neither to calendars nor
      to eclessiastical prayer books or to any work that the
      Government has reserved for its own the exclusive and unlimited
      reproduction, or has licensed its reproduction to an institute
      or corporation as required by public convenience.
      
            Article 6- . Those, who publish for the first time a
      codex, map, drawing, letter sample or musical composition
      shall have a property right for twenty years from the day of
      publication if they were their legitimate possessors [of those
      items] or if they had been duly authorised to take them out
      from a public library.
      



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            Article 7- . Those who, according to previous
      articles, had the exclusive right to reproduce
      a work, shall be able to transfer and transmit [this
      right] by all the means recognised by law and for the
      whole period of time or for a shorter period that
      respectively belongs to each of the authors.
            
            Article 8- .When the works mentioned in the
      preceding articles were posthumous, the said terms
      shall be counted from the day in which they were
      first published.
      
            For the purposes of this article, posthumous
      works shall be understood to comprise a work published
      during the life of the author, if it is being reproduced
      afterwards with alterations or corrections.
      
            Article 9- . Publishers of anonymous or publishers of
      works appearing under pseudonymous shall enjoy the same
      rights as those given to authors. However, if those authors,
      thei heirs or the assigns of authors prove that the property
      belongs to them, they shall begin to fully enjoy the right
      remaining period of time left in the term given to the
      corresponding category of work mentioned above.
      riores artículos.
      
            Article 10- .Nobody shall be able to reproduce someone's
      else work with the excuse of annotating, commenting, adding,
      or improving the edition without the consent of its author.
      
            Nevertheless these additions and annotations of someone's
      else work could be published separately. In this case, they
      shall be considered the owners of such work.
      
            Article 11- .The author's consent is also required in
      order to produce an
      



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      extract or a compendium of his work.
      
            Nevertheless if the extract or compendium were
      of such merit and importance that would constitute
      a new work, or if it would give it a general utility,
      the government shall be allowed to authorize
      its reprint, after hearing the interested parties
      and three experts witnesses appointed by it.
      In this case, the author or owner of the primitive
      work shall have the right to be compensated.
      The amount of the compensation shall be determined
      after hearing the interested parties and the experts
      witnesses, and it shall be annotated in the declaration
      of utility which has also to be made public.
      
            Article 12-. Laws, decrees, royal orders, rules,
      and other documents published by the government in
      the gazette or any other official newspaper could be
      reproduced in other newspapers and in other works that because of
      their nature and content need to quote, comment, criticise or copy
      them verbatim; but no one could print them in a collection
      without the explicit authorisation from the government.
      
            Article 13- .No author shall enjoy the benefits of this
      law without producing evidence of having deposited a copy of his work
      in the National Library and another copy at the Ministry
      of Public Instruction before Before the announcement of its sale.
      
            If the works had been published outside the province
      of Madrid, their authors and publishers shall fulfill this
      obligation by proving to have deposited two copies at the
      Political Head of the province who will send them to the
      Ministry of Public Instruction and to the National Library.
      
            



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            Article 14-. When the term provided
      by this law to authors or editor and to their
      heirs or the assigns of authors expires, or when
      there is no owner or proprietor of a work,
      the work shall enter into the public domain.
      
            Article 15- .For the purposes of this law,
      the Spanish author of a work shall not loose his right
      when he firstly publishes it abroad.
      
      However, works in Spanish language printed abroad
      should not be introduced in the Spanish dominions
      without the prior authorisation from the government.
      This authorisation shall be given with a limit of
      five hundred copies, and when the work is of utility
      and known importance.
      
            Title II
      
      Of Dramatic Works
      
            Article 16- . With regard to the right of reproduction,
      dramatic works will be subjected to the regulations contained
      in the title I of this law.
      
            Article 17- .With regard to their representation in theatres,
      the following regulations shall be observed:
      
            1. No dramatic composition could be represented in
      public theatres without the prior consent of the author.
      
            2.This right belonging to dramatic authors will last
      for their lives and it will pass on to their heirs-at-law
      or testamentary heirs for twenty five years after his death.
      After this, these works shall enter into the public domain
       in respect to their right of representation.
      


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            Article 18-. What is stated in the two
      previous articles in relation to the reproduction
      of dramatic works and their representation in theatres
      shall apply to the reproduction and representation
      of musical compositions.
      
      
            Title III
      
            Of Penalties
      
            Article 19- . Whoever reproduces someone else's
      work without autorisation from the author
      or from the person subrogated in the right to publish it
      shall be subjected to the following penalties:
      
            1. To lose all copies found of the work
      fraudulently printed which shall be given to
      the author of the work or the assigns of the author.
      
            2. To pay all damages and remedies suffered by
      the author or the owner of the work. The amount of the
      compensation shall not be less than the value of two
      thousands copies. If evidence is produced that the
      fraudulent edition has reached this number of copies,
      the amount of the compensation shall not be less than
      the value of three thousand copies, and so on and so forth.
      In so doing, the value of the copy will always be taken to be
      the price at which the author or his assign sells the legitimate
      edition.
      
            3. To the cost of proceedings.
            If the offence is repeated, these penalties shall be increased
      with a fine that cannot be less than two thousand rials, and not
       exceeeding four thousand.
      



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            If the offence is further repeated,
      one or two years of prison sentence in a correctional
      institution will be added to the the penalties
      specified in the preceding paragraphs.
      
            Article 20-. The same penalties shall be
      applicable to:
      
            1. Those who reproduce abroad works of
      individual property printed in Spanish language.
      
            2. Authors of works introduced in the Spanish
      dominions without the authorisation of the government
      or in a greater number of copies than the limit
      authorised by the government.
      
            3. The printer who falsifies the title or cover
      page of a work, or who prints (stamps) on it
      to have published the work in Spain when it was
      however done abroad.
      
            4. The owner of the newspaper who
      steals the title of another current newspaper.
      
            Article 21-. If the fraudulent publisher
      is not found, or when these penalties could not
      be made effective because he is dead, insolvent
      or because of any other cause, these penalties
      shall be imposed on the printer. His establishments
      will be shut if he repeats the offence three times.
      
            Article 22-. For the application of the
      penal provisions to which the preceding articles
      refer, authors shall be understood as persons or
      corporations with the exclusive right to publish and
      reproduce works for a shorter or longer period of
t      ime recognised by the law.
      
            Article 23-. The impresario of a theatre
      in which representations of a dramatic or
      



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      musical without the prior consent of the
      author or the owner shall compensate
      the interested parties with a fine that could
      not be less than a thousand rials, without
      exceeding three thousand. If he had also
      changed the title to hide the fraud, he shall
      be imposed the obligation of paying a double
      fine.
      
            Article 24-. In all these proceedings,
      jurisdiction is found in the first instance courts,
      with appeal to the ordinary superior courts and
      with derogation of any privileged disposition.
      
            Article 25- If the author or the owner knew
      that his work is being printed or sold furtively,
      he may apply to the Judge from the place where
      the fraud is committed to prohibit the printing
      and sale of the work. The judge shall proceed
      according to the terms and measures legally
      established.
      
            General Provisions
      
            Article 26-. The government
      shall attempt to sign treaties or arrangments
      with foreign countries also desirous to reciprocally
      prohibit that works written in another country could
      be published or reprinted in another without
      the prior authorisation of their authors or legitimate
      owners and therefore diminishing their property.
      
            Article 27. The effects and benefits of this
      law will affect all proprietors of works that
      have not yet entered in
      



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      the public domain.
      
            Article 28-. The one who had bought
      the property of one of the author’s works
      shall enjoy it for the term stated in the law.
      When the term expires, the property shall
      return to the author, who shall enjoy it for
      the rest of the time period related to each
      category of works legally determined.
      
            
            And the Congress of Deputies passes for
      the approval of Your Majesty. Palacio del Congreso
      
      
      
                        Madame
      
                  A.L.R.P. de V.M.
                  
                  
            Marquis of Gerona
                  
                  President
                  
                  
                              El Duque de Berwick y de Alba
                                          
                                          Secretary
                                          
                              Juan Comyn
                                          
                                    Deputy Secretary
                                          
      
Federico Vahey
      
Deputy Secretary
      
      Diego Coello y Quesada
      
      Deputy Secretary
      
                  Palacio 30 April 1847
                                          
                                    To be published as law
                                          
                                          Isabel
                                          
                                          
      Minister of Justice
      
      Florencio Rodríguez Vaamonde


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      MINISTRY
      OF
      GRACE AND JUSTICE
      
            Your Excellencies,
      
      The Queen (Q.D.G.) deigned
      to pass the Literary Property Act
      and by royal order I communicate this
      to Your Excellencies,
      attaching the original copy of
      the law, as for the purposes that may
      arise at the Senate.
      May God grant Your Excellencies
      many years. Madrid
      30 April 1847
      

      Florencio Rodríguez
            Vaamonde



Translation by: José Bellido

    


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