The National Register.
London, England, 1817-03-24 00:00:00

WED\E•iIIAV.

The Lord Chancellor wive judgmer it is this raw, awl spoke
to the following effect :—I hive looked into all the affidavits,
and have also road the book itself: I take the bill of injunc-
tion to be a bill which goes the length of statiwz,, that the
work was composed in 1i 91, by Mr. Southey ; that it h his
own production, and that it has been paldiAmil bv the de-
fendants without his Ralletilia or authority. The bill, there-
fore, seeks for the produce of the publication of the work,
and an injunction cot its suppression. I have examined most
of the eases that I could meet with, containing precedent.
for injunctimm uftltlr nature, and I find that they all proceed
upon the ground of title to the property in the plaintiff.. On
this head ►here has !men a distinction taken, to which petha:s
more authority belongs than at first I was aware of, summit.
ed ae it is by Hie opinion of Lard Chief Justice Eyre ; by
whom it was espressly stated, that a person cannot recover
damages for a work which is calculated to do injury to the
Iliadic. In the ca:c of Dr. Walcott, as to the publication of
his work tinder the name of Peter Mortar, the Coml. Mond,

that inasmuch as lie conid not recover damages by action, it
was therefore not bound to grant an injunction to seeme to
him the profits of the printing. I hold the same opinion. it
is very true, that in Siittle. Reuse it iii;ght t.ici ate so as to leave
persons at liberty to multiply corks of such mischievous pub-
lications; but to this my aims er is, l'aat sitting here iii
court of equity, I have nothing to do with the mime of the
property, or the cundut•t of the parties, excepting so,ter4ts
applies to civil interests: and it the publication be utis-
ebievou•, either on the part of the author or the bookseller it
is ■ot my province to interfere. In the pie sent instance, the
party applies for his civil interests only, and this court is the
proper place for !Melt an applieation. I shall say .nothing
arm the nature of the book itself, becanse it appears to m•,
that the print iple upon a hick I am about to declare my opi-
nion makes it unnecessary, except so far as it would naturally
affect any mind, upon hiel.ing at all the circumstances of Me
ease. This is a book containing sentiments not now enter-
lamed by the author, ut least, so I understand. It was (*Om-
posed tv..enty-yi ars ago, in'17944 and %vat,: ()Wei et! by 3lr.
Southey to two booksellers, the one of thename of It ,
and the other of ...Minions., tire publication. They hots twit C
consulted, and twice 'declined to publish the work, C.,r
rta-
sun. not Fl.ecti. So far, therefore, I tmist look at the Look,
a. I am led, I may say jodicially, to ►nspert that the twine
of the woik formed the pi incipal reason for its nou•pobliea-
f lt has been left, then, for 24 )eau•. and has now been
published by the defendants. 'faking all these cireimistancis,
therefore, folio wy eonsideratiou, having consulted all the
cases I eittil,l find touching the question, and entertaining
precisely the 411111 P o onion its my Lord Chief Jostiee Erie, it
at-years to use that I cannot grant this injunction until 31r.
Southey has inaMtained his to this property uy notion.
Al r. Shadwell observed, that SO st iisible was 3lr. Southey of
the indecency, impropriet;•, and dangerous tendency of this
work, that he had thought it right to undergo the disgrace of
acknowledging it to be his own production, in order that it
might be totally suppressed.
l'he Lord Chancellor.--Sitting, as I do, in a civil court, it
is not my provine.e to administer
.ittAtiee Its to the charaeo r
tr conthict of individuals, out mat cly to take care of their
property. Dining the whole contse of toy life, I ;tare beau
most careful of that croperty, anal shall continue to pie►mret
the same line 01'01111111e! to the roil of my life.

SIIEL2IFFS' CO t° T. MAUCH 18.
C1:01. CON.
I. 111 C. 1111.1.0 N 13 %RT.

The pluiloifi, the .J. C. M.llH;,Chuploin to the Forces
tit Matta, simalit to recover daotages from the de fesiddrit, sir
C. Dilion, for ea iminal comers:46oo with his wife. The di-
inager were Mid at 10,0001. and Judgment had gone by de-

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