The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-08-07 00:00:00

LAW INTEM IGENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY, SATVIDAT, AUGUST 6.
COTTAIGHT.-DIAWSIAN AND OTHERS v. TEes.
Mr. BoRNE haring yesterday commenced his observations for
the defendant, against the injunction prayed for by the plaintiffs,

now concluded them.
3lr. HART, before the beamed Counsel went into the ease, was
desirous of knowing whether it was his borelahlp's swish W hear the
rate of " The Attorney-Creneral v. the Corporation of Liverpool,"
in the course of the (lay.
The LORD CustreEt.t.on thought that the case of " Newman
v. Tegg" would occupy the remainder of the day.
Mr. HORN E was then heard at very considerable length. He
observed upon the absurdity of considering a Dictionary to be an
original work.l An Bneyclopre,lia was a publication of a precisely
similar description, and if not an original work, necessarily WNW
not be pirated. The Counsel for the plaintiffs had not even at.
tempted to prove the originality of the book, because if they had
attempted this, they must have faifed. He contended that the de-
fendant had been completely justified in the course he had taken ;
and if some of the plaintiffs illustrations had been taken, no one
could or ought to quarrel with it.. But there was another ground
upon which the defendant rested his defence in this past of the case,
viz, that the defendants' work was quite of a different character
to that of the plaintiffs- The defendant had not attempted those
high philosophical flights to which the plaintiffs had aspired, and
in so aspiring had bid defiance to all alphabetical arrangement.
The LORD CHANCELLOR was reminded by Oa, observation of
a dispute that took place respectinp a cookery book, which was
said to have been pirated. '1 he differenze between one and the
other was alleged to be, that one of them began only at the second

course.
Mr. Boater continued to show the differ/Gee which appeared to
him to exist between the two works now under discussion. lle
contended that it was not in the least surprising that two parties,
whose object was precisely the game, sbould happen. to select the
same passages. Poring over old black-letter authorities ter par.
poses of illustration, was • very different task from that of a poet,
who might be said to write from inspiration. Those whose object
merely was the compilation of a dictionary had little to do with
imagination, and might he termed the pioneera of literature. He,
submitted, that the chief value of an encyclopedia was, to bring
down to the latest periods all previous publications of a similar elms
ratter; and such had been the object of the defendant, and withsli
out it the work would have been incomplete. The Leamet/ Cousri
sel next referred to the mariner in which his Learned Friend, the!
Solicitor-General, had thought proper to introduce this matter to
the Court yesterday. Such wit and eloquence were perhaps el.
than or ever eguallel; but he (Mr. Berne) had been meta thiss
lighted by the tropes and syllogisms in which his Learned
lied indulged. One of the tropes had been directedee a
unfortunate printer's devil, who was Iteppily tai toban"
sometimes made his appesrance above ground, but whom domicile
was under it. His Leered Friend's object had been to show that
die blunders in the plaintiffs' book were attributable to these on.'
happy devils. So his (Mr. Horne 's) desire now was equally t
.how that the blunders which appeared in the London E nelyeiftn
pudic, were also attributable to the carelessness of the said printerlei
devils. The Learned Counsel then refereed to same of the pas.
sages selected by the nlaintifils' Counsel, as being peculiarly re.
makable for the blunder which had been copied by the defendant.
These proved nothing more, than that errors would be committed.
even where the greatest care was taken, and more particularly in a
work of this nature, where Ws many long and generally unknown
scientific phrases were used to every part. He took it to be clear,
that it a work treating on morals had some passages in it of an
immoral nature, if an application were made as to the piracy
of those immoral parts, that;ourt would grant noj
inuncti n.
o The
same principle, he thought, would appear, which th Solicitor-Ge-
neral had yesterday commented on. -The object of the Enoyclopre-
dia M, frapoliia sid was to spread abroad a spirit of learning, and it,
indulactt Ste readers in some definitions derived from the Greek
Itingue. Of this nature was ene of the comments upon ths word.
e. alphabet." Every school-boy knew that this word was derived
hem the alpha and Lao of the Greek ; but, however, this important
!'fact had alto been stated in the 'defendant's book, it was said to
' have been copied from the Enrycloprdits illar•polibute. He should.
have thought that welt a definition as this would have been thought
too puerile for such a high-sounding work as the Erscyclopedia
Metropotitann. The Learned Counsel than referred to the affidavit
of Mr. Richardson, the compiler of the lexicographical portion of
the plaintiff's work, and csnetnented upon several passages in it
at some length. This affidavit, lie submitted, proved nothing
aliieh could in any manner be useful to the plaintiffs' case. He
then alludsd to the enormous sums which had been expended by
the defendant in preparing this work. At least 5,0001. had thus
been expended.
Mr. So LICIT 011.0 ENE ear. observed that at least 30,0001. might
be added to that sum as the expense of the plaintiffs upon their ,
works.
Mr. HORNE submitted, that considering the number of plain-
tiffs, the defendant would be found to be the greatest loser, in the
event of the success of this motion.
The Loan Cuaxcer.Lott thought it his duty to declare what
he considered to be the law with respect to copyright, as it affeeted
the present case; upon the tiling of a bill, there could be no doubt
that an injunction nitglebe granted to restrain pubiicition, if pi-
racy were distinctly proved; but the time of granting it might be
another question. The rule with respect to copyright hod been, he
thought, LOW sufficiently established, and it was reduced to a ques.
don of evidence entirely. If it could be punted that blunders tied
been copied in the piracy, that certainly would be a very strong
fact in support of the injunction. To put an example of what he
ineant—it the bookseller at the corner of Lincoln's Inn, who might
publish Mr. Price's Exchequer Reports, were told that menhir edi.
tion had been published by some tine else, and that not only the
matter had been taken, but also the errors of the press, ho might
justly complain, and there would be tolerably strong evidence of
the piracy ; although might was at perfect liberty, if be pleased,
to publish Exchequer as wall as Mr. Price, As to the
evidence of piracy m the pesesat ewe, the defeadast night. if be
chose, wake sa allskavic tliagaag that thew paste • jis abteb the
bloats, lot legs asalaataisi war boa the plaintiffs' pub.
1
'ligation. Mr. Mespo's sagrareau. bed been eattaaely ingenious,
laid Mr Shadailiraverli at Oulu be equally eat but before the
Liaguitasta wateaaambellai.las was anxious that the question of pi.
fit Dip pilMilospitl ha distinctly understood. As to the ergo.
mat that a was out as original work, he apprehended