# Primary Sources on Copyright - Record Viewer
Letter from Peters to Donaldson, Philadelphia (1828)

Source: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Cadwalader Collection, Judge John Cadwalader Series, Manx Nr 1454: Richard Peters Jr. to Robert Donaldson, Sept. 26, 1828.

Citation:
Letter from Peters to Donaldson, Philadelphia (1828), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Back | Record | Images | No Commentaries
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf

            Chapter 1 Page 1 of 3 total



No Translation available.


            Copy of Letter from Hon. Judge Cranch to R. Peters Jr.
                                                Washington D.C. July 18th 1828.

D[ear] Sir,
            "I have been informed that you propose to publish a
new edition of my Reports - It is with great reluctance that I
deem it my duty to others to inform you that I have not yet
been reimbursed the actual expense of publishing my 3 last
volumes by one thousand dollars and that I must insist
upon all my legal rights"

- Answer -

                                                Philad[elphi]a August 14th 1828.
Hon. Mr. Cranch.
                        Washington.
D[ear] Sir,
            I have been absent from this City since the 18th of
July, and this moment have your letter of that date.
            I do assure you, in the kindest spirit, I shall not object
to your insisting on your legal rights in reference to your reports, and
should I invade them I must submit to the consequences. I
do not, nor have I ever desired to, propose to publish a new Edition
of your Reports - My plan is to publish [in] a condensed form, the de-
cisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, and as the
opinions of the Court cannot be the subject of Copyright, neither
can the facts of the Cases be the property of any one, my work
will not be obnoxious to the Laws protecting literary property.
These are opinions which have had high professional sanction
and by which I am willing to abide - I have issued a Pros-
pectus of my books, a Copy of which I take the liberty to enclose.
From every part of the United states I have received expressions of
the highest approbation of my plan, and the beneficial influence
in our Country, of placing the decisions of the Court, within the pow-
er of many who cannot purchase the reports at their present price
is admitted by all - I have not adopted the opinion, that my

    

Our Partners


Copyright statement

You may copy and distribute the translations and commentaries in this resource, or parts of such translations and commentaries, in any medium, for non-commercial purposes as long as the authorship of the commentaries and translations is acknowledged, and you indicate the source as Bently & Kretschmer (eds), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) (www.copyrighthistory.org).

You may not publish these documents for any commercial purposes, including charging a fee for providing access to these documents via a network. This licence does not affect your statutory rights of fair dealing.

Although the original documents in this database are in the public domain, we are unable to grant you the right to reproduce or duplicate some of these documents in so far as the images or scans are protected by copyright or we have only been able to reproduce them here by giving contractual undertakings. For the status of any particular images, please consult the information relating to copyright in the bibliographic records.


Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) is co-published by Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK and CREATe, School of Law, University of Glasgow, 10 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK