The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-11-21 00:00:00

E STATESMAN.

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• the similar privileges to the two public libraries in
Dublin. Such former Statutes required copies of all
books. that might be printed to he forwarded for the
Universities, &c. previously to publication, for some
" books might be entered at Stationers' Hall without
.being published, and, vice versa, books might be,
published without haring been entered at Stationers'
. hall. Sucha misconception in the Preamble of the
''4lst of 'the King could not operate so as to do away
:.the benefits resulting from former Statutes, and there-
'fore he humbly maintained, that the verdict in this
case ought to be coofirmed.
Mr. littou.citxm argued contra. He contended,
that the property of authors could be defended by
common law, as had been proved in 64 Beckford v.
„Hood,!' a case respecting literary property which
had not been entered at Stationers' Hall ; and those
particular Statutes on which Mr. Littledale relied,
with the exception of the 41st of the King, gave to
authors the protection of Statute-law, the benefit
" resulting from entering books at Stationers' hall.--
' But if authors, or the proprietors of works, did not
choose to put themselves under the protection of Ste-
" tute law, by entering their books at Stationer? Hall
—if they were content to stand on the Common
Law, by not making the entries required by former
Statutes, then ought they not to be called upon to
abide by the provisions of those Statutes. 'That
seemed to be the spirit of those Acts, as appeared
' from the last Act passed on the subject of literary
property, namely, the. 41st of the King, which in
the Preamble specifically stated the Act to regard
! only those books " entered at. Stationer? Hall. '—
If authors did not shield their property by those
Acts, surely they were not bound to do what they
required from those who had the benefit of their
protection. The Act of Charles was distinct from
that of Anne, therefore, would he not touch on it.
—He began with the Bth Anne, and the 15th
.Geo. HI. and argued, that they were in some de-
gree obscure on the point now at issue, and that
the Legislature had acknowledged such obscurity in
the 41st of the King. That obscurity was not only
recognised, but' actually done away in the very
Preamble of the Act last alluded to, it professing to
refer to hooks "entered at Stationer? Hall." The
meaning of all the Acts on this point was set forth in
plain terms; and he therefore submitted, that as it
left no doubt, the verdict ought not to stand.
Mr. LITTLEHALE having replied, the judgment of
the Court was delivered.
Lord Er.r.tensottonatt held, that the Bth Anne,
on the subject at issue, was not susceptible of a
doubt ; its meaning was plain and obvious; and
clearly required the delivery of a certain numler of .
copies to the Warehouse-keeper of the Statkmers'
Company for the King's library, the English and
Scotch • Universities, ate. That Act (of iknite)
seemed to have two distinct objects in vier.v,,fi'rst,
the protection of literary properly ; secondly, the
advancement in literature kr' providing the public
libraries with copies of all new bookafor the use of
the students, &c. Thus literary works would be
accessible to the students at a more easy rate than
might otherwise have been the case; and at all everts,
for the advancement of literature, to secure a depo-
sit of all books.in those libraries. The subsequent
Acts were intended to promote, secure, and extend
those benefits; and the Act of the 41st of the King,
notwithstanding the misconception of its Preamble,
merely extended the benefits enjoyed by the Eng-
lish and Scotch Universities, to those of Ireland.—
But that misconception, or rather the erroneous de-
scription given of former Acts in the Preamble of
the 41st of the present reign, could not overcome
and do away the strong and potent meaning of the
Bth Anne, cb. 14. He therefore was of opinion
that the Plaintiffs .was clearly entitled to have their
verdict confirmed.

Mr. Justice Le Blanc and Mr. Justice Bailey,
coincided in the judgment of the Lord Chief Justice ;
but Mr. Justice Grose was absent on account of ill-
ness, we believe.
'!'he verdict of the Plaintiffs was accordingly con.
firmed; and it is thus decided, that eleven copies, on
the best paper, of every book that shall be printed,
previously to publicatkon, must be forwarded to
the Warehouse-keeper of the Stationers' Company,
whether entered at Stationers' Hall or not, to be
delivered, on requisition, to the eleven public
braries; specified in the 41st of the present King,
namely, " the Royal Library, the Libraries of the
two Universities in England, the four Universities
iu Scotland, the Library of Sion College, the Li-
brary belonging to the College of Advocates in Edin-
burgh, the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and
the Kilg's Inns, Dubli.n, on the pain of forfeiting the
value thoreof, and also 51. for each hook."--(fide
the Act.)

chime of the King's Bench in support of that pro.
position.
Mr. Serjeant SREPIIERD and Mr. Serjeant BF-4V
,hewed cause against the rule, and maintained that
the register of a ship was a sufficient proof, and that,
in the present case, they had, besides, acts of owner-
ship from the Captain, who was one of the Owners.
Mr. Justice Gtuas observed, that, for some time,
the register of a vessel had been admitted, in the
King's Bench, as a sufficient proof of ownership ;
but an objection having been taken to it, that Court
had decided, that it was not sufficient legal 'truer.
After a reply-from Mr. Serjeant YELL, who still
relied on the precedents he had quoted, the Judges
delivered their opinion, and confirmed the decision
of the King's Bench, that " the register was riot
sufficient proof."

The rule was made absolute, and, of course, a
non.suit entered.

COURT OF EXCHEQUILR, Nov. 20.
STOWE T. PERRINGS.

In this case application was made for leave to
transfer seven hundred pounds, in the hands of the
Deputy Remembraucer, into the possession of the

This application was made under the following
circumstances :—The Plaintiff, who was sole heiress
to her father and. grandfather's estates, married
Geo. Stowe during the period of her minority. Two
trustees, one of them named Turner, and the other
the present Defendant, were accordingly nominated
to manage her estates and protect what monies
were transmitted to her by the marriage settlemeut.
Turner, one of the guardians, however, happened
to go abroad, and all enquiry after him was fruit-
less. A bill was therefore filed in the Exchequer,
praying for an accurate account, of the guardian-
shily from the Defendant, and leave to no►ainate
another trustee. The Court, after having medi-
tated on the case for sometime, transmitted it, with
consent of the parties, into the hands of the Deputy
Remembrancer, with the monies surrendered, who ap-
pointed a gentleman, of the name of Gibson, to be
joint trustee with the Defendant, upon which the
Court ordered all the monies deposited in the De-
puty Remembmncer's hands, to be transferred into
the hands of the trustees. During the progress of
the transfer, George Stowe died, and, the proceed-
ings were stopped until further instructions were re-
ceived. The widow, therefore, prayed that under
the circumstances of her being without children, and
the sole heiress of her husband's estates, free from all
legacies, that the Court would please to cause the'
Deputy Remembrancer to surrender 7001. into her
hands, being the whole that remained untrans—
fer red.

The Court Informed the Learned Counsel who
made the application, that it was necessary for him
to prove that the widow was childless, and that her
husband was dead before they could consent to give
an order for the surrender of money placed in the Re-
membrancer's hands, for the joint benefit of herself,
her husband, and their children.

A few days since, a numerous and highly reTect-
able meeting was held at Hornsey, to take iuto•con-
sideration the propriety of enclosing the few acres
of uncultivated land, in that parish ; when, after a
long debate, the advocates for the enclosure were
defeated by a very large majority; to the great satis-
faction of the Inhabitants of Hornsey and Highgate.
Had the measure been adopted, and the common
enclosed, the advantage would only have beyn de-
rived by the few who occupied frontage land. High-
gate common and Muswell-hill consent are in the
parish of Homey.
Yesterday morning, between file and six o'c:Pck,
a butcher, of Whitechapel, had his pocket picked
in Smithfield Market, of Bank notes to the amount
of about 651. with which the thief got clear on
A duel was fought on Wednesday morning on
Hounslow Heath,. betwixt a Gentleman of the name
of Traggert, and a Captain Lowett, in consequence
of an honourable dispute respecting a bet. The
former Gentleman was severely, though not consi-
dered dangerously, wounded in the thick part of the
arm.

On Wednesday morning, as J. Peters was walking
through a shrubbery, near Uxbridge, he per-
ceived a well-dressed man in black suspended from
one of the trees. Peters cut the body down, but
there was no sign of life, and it was conveyed to a
neighbouring house to be owned. Letters were
found in the pocket of the deceased, and he was
found to he a Mr. Tamveet, lately a French teacher
at an Academy in the neighbourhood of Eslington.—
He had been seen at Uxbridge two or three days be-
fore, and it is conjectured distress was the cause of
suicide.

EXTRAORDINARY CIRCVMSTANCE.—An extraordi-
nary circumstance happened on Thursday afternoon,
the particulars of which will afford no small degree of
satisfaction to the pigeon fanciers in the metropolis,
and more especially to those in the neighbourhood of
Covent-garden. Mr. Harrison, who keeps the Ta-
vistock Hotel under the Piazza, has long been in the
'habit of encouraging the breed of pigeons for his
amusement, and though he has suffered repeated losses
by a diminution of his numbers, he has nevertheless
persevered in his favourite pursuit. A neighbour
(Mr. Down, the hatter in Kinestreet), had long sus-
pected that M r.H.'s stock had suffered by the continual I
visits of a hawk, which he had observed had frequently
flown to Mr. H. 's repository ; and being yesterday
afternoon on Mr.H.'s premises inspecting his pigeons,',
he had the good fortune (as the catastrophe has
proved) to observe the hawk in question repeat his
visit, and carry away one of his friend's finest birds. 1
Mr. Down, having equipped himself with a gun,
followed the merciless marauder till he lodged on
the steeple of the New Church, in the Strand, and
then shot him dead, while in the act of devouring his
prey. The size of the hawk was four feet long,
from the extremity of one wing to the other; one
foot tea inches from the top of the back to the end
of the tail, sad one foot fear inches in circum-

ference.,
INeuzirpr-Oe Tuesday, an Inquest was held at
the Mackworth Geennercial-road, on the
iody of koala unknown wlto was found banging
r &rope inspeadest to die, joist of a new • building.
Ne.dpneesed appeared lo in,about fifty years of age.
)4sue could tell Awn whence he came, or who he
VONAP*tri4llNsUlg*"' .

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