On the Origin of the Right to Copy: Charting the Movement of Copyright Law in Eighteenth Century Britain (1695-1775) [Hardcover]

Taking as its point of departure the lapse of the Licensing Act 1662 in 1695, this book examines the lead up to the passage of the Statute of Anne 1709 and charts the movement of copyright law throughout the eighteenth century, culminating in the House of Lords decision in Donaldson v Becket (1774). The established reading of copyright's development throughout this period, from the 1709 Act to the pronouncement in Donaldson, is that it was transformed from a publisher's right to an author's right; that is, legislation initially designed to regulate the marketplace of the bookseller and publisher evolved into an instrument that functioned to recognise the proprietary inevitability of an author's intellectual labours. The historical narrative which unfolds within this book presents a challenge to that accepted orthodoxy. The traditional analysis of the development of copyright in eighteenth-century Britain is revealed as exhibiting the character of long-standing myth, and the centrality of the modern proprietary author as the raison d'?tre of the copyright regime is displaced.This book examines the lead up to the passage of the Statute of Anne 1709 and charts the movement of copyright law throughout the eighteenth century.Ronan Deazley is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Durham.

This book is worth the work for anyone with a serious interest in eighteenth-century copyright& Don-John Dugas,The Scriblerian, Vol. 39, No. 2

In the strongest section of the book, the author examines the legislative history of the Statute of Anne (1709), discussion of which will not be easily found elsewhere...It helpfully offers a different perspective on a mine of historical material from which the specialist will benefit...this is a book to be welcomed. Ross Gilbert Anderson,SCRIPT-ed, Volume 3, Issue 3

[Deazley] presents us with an excellent history of eighteenth-century copyright law, full of fascinating detail. His story is beautifully told, wilC+