The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-11-13

Property In Letters.

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The literary executors Of Mr.. Webster have
published a card, in which they express a hope
"that Il Is quite wnsecsssary to say 10 those scAo
AaUs been honorld BY his cowG.pondrnce that IL.
Lsai right to publish tie lstiers Of deceased per.
son belongs only 10 those tOho represent him" This
IL certainly very gracious aud complimentary
mode of stating the law; for it ia very question:.
bic if many persons have any adequate notions Of
their rights and duties in ths particular respect
The common impression. believe, Of the re-
cever ia that he has sort of fec simple absolute
itpretty much what he pieases; and that the wri-
ter has parted with bis interest cntireiy and that
neither he nor his legal representatives have any
control or restrictive power in the premises.
Such notions are altogether Iaise; il was certain
ly vice. the part Of Mr.. Webster's literary ex
e.utors, TO prcss this upon the public
mind at the present moment; for nothing can be
more earnestly deprecated, by the friends of this
great man, than hasty and surreptitous edition
Of his literary correspondence, Of any part of It,
When johnson died, and harpies began to fall
upon his memory-'the old lion 10 dead" said a
worthy bishop, .'and now every ass will be kick
ing at his hide" Before this great statesman had
been ten days in his grave, q hyeua, in bands and
cassock, and with 6endish brutality, unpardon-
able even in beast, had violated the sanctuary OF
the dead; and already literary hawkers and adj
venturers in haste TO make the inost of his ex
uvie. AtH. Na. fEi tsstf5l SO Aas t5t z
After the death of Lord Dudley, the Bishop OF
LANDAU prepared for the press Lord Dudley's
letters, written to the bishop himsef. The exec
utors of Lord Dudley forbade their public alton;
the bishop took legal counsel and dcsisted, though
doubtless greatly surprised to find that he had no
legal right to print letters which he thought were
exclusively his own. BY agreement, the letters
were finally published, and in the preface he
says: ~ received. TO my great surprise, an Off
cial notice that the executors objected TO the pub
LEGATION; upon which, having taken advice, and
being informed that il application were made ny
the executors TO the court Of chancery injunc
ton would probably be granted. I signi6ed my
acquescence in their private Injunction and aban
he dPRipn .
The first case, believe, involving the question
of right in private letters, was that Of Pope and
Curl in l74I. rope's letters to Swift had been
printed in Dublin. Curl bought the publishers
supposed right, and claimed the right to reprint
them. Even from this he restrained by Lord
Hardwicke, who said: 'The receiver Of letter has
only joint property with the writer."t .''
In l774 Eugeuia Stanhope, widow OF Lord Ches
terfeld's natural son, agreed with Dodsley to pub
lsh series Of letters education, written to the
son by the father. The executors of Lord Chester
ing, was confirmed by the Lord Chancellor Aps-
ley. The case may be found in Amber, Thomp.
son and others %. Stanhope and Dodsiey.
In the case Of Gee Us. Pritchard, Lord Chancellor
Eldon observes: 81 think that the decisions repre-
sent the property as qualified in some respects;
that by sending the letter the writer had given
for the purpose of reading, and in some cases OF
ksp%ag it. thu se 70 wno
that ultra the purposes tor which the letter
sent, the property was in the sender."t
In the above case Sir Samuel Romiiy observed:
ut has been decided fortunately for the welfare Of
society that the writer of letters, though written
without any purpose Of profit, or any idea OF lite
rary property possesses such right OF property in
them that they cannot be published without his
criminal, require the publication."N
No person has any right 10 publish letter. by
him received, even in Justification Of himself, un
purposes Of pubic justice, publicly administered,
according to the established institutions OF the
country" says Lord Eldon, "thc letters must al
ways be produced; do not say that Of justice, ad-
ministered by private hands."S
Some doubts at enc time existed il these rules
of law equally applied to all manner Of private let
ters Judge Story, in his commentaries on equity
jurisprudence, observes: Fortunately for public
and private peace and morals, the learned doubts
on this subject have been overruled, and it il
held that there is no distinction between private
letters Of one nature and private letters of another
For the purposes o. public justice publicly admin,
stered according to the established institutions of
the country, in the ordinary modes OF proceeding,
private letters may be required to be produced and
published. But it by no means follows that pri-
vate persons have a right to make such pubica
lions on other occasions upon their notions Of
taking the administration Of justice into their own
hands, or for the purpose OF yindicating their own
conduct, or gratifying their own enmity, or in
dulging gross and diseased public curiosity, by
the circulation OF private anecdotes or family or
personal concerDs.'T ....,s.yr2. ..@g u%Hg.l..
When man has lived long and written exten
elvely, must DC presumed nave WTlttSn 6OiIlc
things, in the confidence Of friendship, which were
never destined to be published in permanent ink.
1t is the very province Of such mans literary
ecutors to select and TO reject and far posi-
BILE to restrain that prurient appetite for distinc-
ton which may impel the recipient Of every IN.
1nport ant line to thrust II into print, not for the
honor Of the writer, but the goriication OF the re-
cever a..F .4.ar,s ...t ..a r..... .. .s.....
The publication of such letters, and indeed of any
private letters OF Mr.. Webscr, under circumstan.
like the present, BY private individuals, and in
the face of the edmonton presented by the lite
rary executors of MIR. Webster, will be not only
illegal, but deficient in respect to the memory OF
the literary testatOr himselt. .ta'wt} .s. gH4 4a
Some eighteen centuries ago Cicero exhibited
his opinions upon this subject, while writing OF
Aptony's indeoens pablicatinn Of Gicero's private
letters to hm-"Quid est aliud,' he exclaims, "tol-
lere vita vim socetatem, tollere amioorum collo-
quia absentiumi Guam multa joca soent esse in
epistois, que. proiata 81 rint, inepta vidcantur?
Guam multa seria neque tamen ullo modo divul-
ganda?" 'a 80; .".' a7'u.y " SIGMA.
+Letters Of the Earl of Dudley to the Bishop Of
LlandafE-London, 1910. rs -. .. .,a.. '. .l,.
Atkynss Reports, vol. ii, p. 342. .... ..
Swanston's Reports. vol. H., p 4l5. So"
Ibid. p. 4l8. sr+s#- ..rr. .'s al
s Ibid, p. AT. .e.., ..... ,.',.
fstory's Commentaries, vol. H., chap. %, sec.
S4s - 9 rra, #a. '..4' IF
Doon W. ll,,da ~