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Encyclopaedia Article on 'The Reprinting of Books', Leipzig and Halle (1740)
Source: Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen 34 A 398 [Reprint Edition of 1995]
Citation:
Encyclopaedia Article on 'The Reprinting of Books', Leipzig and Halle (1740), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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is not just the transfer of ownership of a physical object but at
the same time also the complete cession of all rights
associated with it which otherwise belong exclusively to the
work's author. As with non-physical objects, this cession
takes the place of conveyance [of property], in accordance
with the L fin. pr. ff. de donat. (see Lentz, de Action. &
Nomin., def. c.3, nr.17). Through such agreements and
contracts of sale book publishers become the proprietors of
scholarly works. By means of a licit and permissible
settlement (ex contractu licito & permisso) they acquire an
irrevocable right (jus quaesitum), as the scholars of
jurisprudence argue. They acquire the full right to
exclusively print the manuscripts they have purchased; to
constantly reprint and republish the resulting books, as the
means of their sustenance, with the exclusion of any other
publishers, be they countrymen or foreigners; and to make
use of and trade in them as they wish as long as it does not
run counter to the interests of society. Just as the book
publishers must bear the loss if the books they publish were
to lie on the shelves and become waste-paper, so they are
rightly entitled to the great profit which accrues to them
from good sales. Thus, it is clear that the right which a book
publisher has with regard to the printing and publication of
a work is based on settlements and contracts. The rights and
obligations which are acquired through contracts do not
extend further than to those who enter into them. Those
publishers who reprint books already published by others in
accordance with the right ceded to them (ex iure cesso) by
the author, have clearly not made any settlement at all.
Every right of ownership, however, is originally based on
such contracts. If these are left out, the title which is
necessary for the rightful acquisition of ownership (titulus
iustus) is also absent- i.e. the legitimate reason which
justifies the acquisition and ownership of an object
according to the laws (Böhmer, Introd. ad Ius Digest., Book
61). Where the approval of the law is absent no permission
can be given. It is therefore something utterly
impermissible, nay, even contrary to the law, to reprint
without authorisation the published books which belong,
even if not issued with privileges, to honest publishers and
to thereby maliciously encroach on that which belongs to
them by the Grace of God and by right. The arguments
which have been presented so far are based on principles
approved of by divine and human law. Thus, unauthorised
reprinting is an enterprise which runs contrary to divine and
human law. Everything that does not concord with these
laws is a crime. From this it follows irrefutably that
unauthorised reprinting is also a punishable crime.
Moreover, from what has been said above ¦
No Transcription available.
Source: Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen 34 A 398 [Reprint Edition of 1995]
Citation:
Encyclopaedia Article on 'The Reprinting of Books', Leipzig and Halle (1740), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
is not just the transfer of ownership of a physical object but at
the same time also the complete cession of all rights
associated with it which otherwise belong exclusively to the
work's author. As with non-physical objects, this cession
takes the place of conveyance [of property], in accordance
with the L fin. pr. ff. de donat. (see Lentz, de Action. &
Nomin., def. c.3, nr.17). Through such agreements and
contracts of sale book publishers become the proprietors of
scholarly works. By means of a licit and permissible
settlement (ex contractu licito & permisso) they acquire an
irrevocable right (jus quaesitum), as the scholars of
jurisprudence argue. They acquire the full right to
exclusively print the manuscripts they have purchased; to
constantly reprint and republish the resulting books, as the
means of their sustenance, with the exclusion of any other
publishers, be they countrymen or foreigners; and to make
use of and trade in them as they wish as long as it does not
run counter to the interests of society. Just as the book
publishers must bear the loss if the books they publish were
to lie on the shelves and become waste-paper, so they are
rightly entitled to the great profit which accrues to them
from good sales. Thus, it is clear that the right which a book
publisher has with regard to the printing and publication of
a work is based on settlements and contracts. The rights and
obligations which are acquired through contracts do not
extend further than to those who enter into them. Those
publishers who reprint books already published by others in
accordance with the right ceded to them (ex iure cesso) by
the author, have clearly not made any settlement at all.
Every right of ownership, however, is originally based on
such contracts. If these are left out, the title which is
necessary for the rightful acquisition of ownership (titulus
iustus) is also absent- i.e. the legitimate reason which
justifies the acquisition and ownership of an object
according to the laws (Böhmer, Introd. ad Ius Digest., Book
61). Where the approval of the law is absent no permission
can be given. It is therefore something utterly
impermissible, nay, even contrary to the law, to reprint
without authorisation the published books which belong,
even if not issued with privileges, to honest publishers and
to thereby maliciously encroach on that which belongs to
them by the Grace of God and by right. The arguments
which have been presented so far are based on principles
approved of by divine and human law. Thus, unauthorised
reprinting is an enterprise which runs contrary to divine and
human law. Everything that does not concord with these
laws is a crime. From this it follows irrefutably that
unauthorised reprinting is also a punishable crime.
Moreover, from what has been said above ¦
No Transcription available.