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'Books Constitution' of Emperor Rudolf II, Leipzig (1713)

Source: Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg R 633

Citation:
'Books Constitution' of Emperor Rudolf II, Leipzig (1713), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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            Chapter 1 Page 2 of 3 total


(4.) Book Constitution.

The Constitution of Emperor Rudolph II, concerning books, / promulgated in 1608.

We, Rudolph the Second, / by the Grace
of God / elected Roman Emperor, / at all
times Augmenter of the Empire / in
Germany, / Hungary, / Bohemia, /
Dalmatia, / Croatia, / and Slovenia etc.,
King, / Archduke of Austria, / Duke of
Burgundy, / Styria, / Carinthia, / Crain
and Württemberg, / Count of the Tyrol
etc. send Our grace and regards to Our
honourable, dear, and devout followers: /
Valentin Leucht and George
Erstenberger of Freyenthurn, / who are,
respectively, Doctor of Theology and
Licentiate of the Laws, / as well as to the
honourable scholar / and Our and the
Empire’s faithful follower, / Carl
Seiblin, / Licentiate of the Laws, / Our
councillor and Procurator Fiscal of the
Imperial Chamber Court. Honourable, /
dear, / and devout followers! / Learned, /
dear follower!
            With what detriment to the
commonwealth / the book inspections
which we demanded on a previous
occasion and which indeed started up
well, have

[Column 2]


come to a halt for quite a while, / is well-
known to all of you / and is readily
evinced by the highly punishable habits
which keep coming to light every day.
However, since we / do not wish to
suffer any longer the spreading of such
intolerable abuses and disorder, / and
since we have also decided to re-
establish the inspections that were
previously in use, / we have graciously
chosen you, / all and sundry, / to be our
Imperial Commissioners, / and hereby
graciously order you / to take all the
pains you can to ensure, first of all, / that
the inspections, which up to now had
come to a standstill, are fruitfully re-
established; / that the large amount of /
strictly forbidden defamatory works /
which appear at all fairs / is done away
with completely; / that in future, no book
is printed / or sold in the Holy Empire /
unless it has been previously censored /
approved and permitted / by the regular
authorities / in the printers’ place of
residence; / and that, moreover, the name
of the author, that of the printer, / and
the place [of printing] are included



    

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