New-York tribune., 1875-08-07


creature of the common law, and the natural product
of common justice; the immense publicity given
TO tho authors ideas by representation did
not in any honest mans opinion, justify the public
in carrying away the words to represent them in
another theater. Printing play would greatly fa-
clitate Piracy; but the power to misappropriatc is
not the right TO misappropriate. That printing
play could actually forfeit so heterogeneous prop
crty Stagerigh. is conjecture utterly opposed to
the universal principle that law abhors divestiture
Of right once established; and there is not scin-
ta of evidence in support of the monstrous conjec-
ture. What little evidence there is runs all against
the forfeiture. Up TO the Commonwealth, the Sniii-
beIlain alleging property, stopped violation OF stage
He never f0resaw distinction, which is thor
oughy modern, and irrelevant, and rotten IN Pril-
ciple, and has got smuggled most lloglcaliy mo
Stage-rign by silly sde-wnd. Judge latess met
aphysical twadde not about Stage-riSht, Dut ABOUT
Copyright, ana i;simagipary forfeiture hy pI11n,ing;
an arranf chimCra knocked on the head by history,
and crushed by Judicial authority. After the res
tOrltOn have only the evidence OF prices for lou
years, and Lord Eldons. judgment. he protected
Stagergl after publication, and his is the only J-
dicial decision that touches Stage-nght at common
law either in MSS or pay-boOks
CASES OF DRAMATIC PIRACY.
If, therefore, we are to go by impartial principles
of law and the best direct evidence we can get and
superior weight of judicial authority, speaking
obiteE in Donaldson agt. Beckett and ad rem IN Nor
!
printed plays was like Copyright, creature Of COM
mon sense, common justice, and common law; Dut,
like Copyright. is now nursling of statutes,
thanks to a sudden onslaught by pirates. If law
be ever SO clear, but carry penalty for breach,
Property is the sport of accident so, on the close
/ of the war in 1915, Monopoly and Piracy fell upon
/ the Dramatist and destroyed him. Two theateTs
got the sole right to play legitimate pieces in Lon
/ don, and this made the author their slave lhey
robbed him Of his three nights ovcrplus, and threw
! him few pounds for drama worth thousands. rs
TO the provincial thcatcrs single pirate drove All
tie dramatisis out Of them. Here Is a copy OF his
! adyortiscment-and please observe 1t Is unlllnieu
/ plays he pirates wholesale: " Mr. Kenneth, at
| the corner of BOw-st., will supply any, gen
! tleman with any manuscript on the oNcs'
/ Terms and here is an eXanplc-Mr Douglas Jer-
! rold eiyes evidence to the Parliamentary Commis-
! sion biuc Book, =. 1876: - The lient Day was
nlovcd in The country 2 fortnight after il was pro
| duced at Drury Lane. and | have letter IN NY
pocie in which provincial manager sId ne Woula
! willingly have given mo IJ for cory, had ne not
before paid 81 for 1t TO some suahgH grf'ii- giw
! ing Kenneth. The method OF tins caiiht Is
revealed in another quarter: henneiD wen, ,.
! TO the theater with short hand writer WAo
! took the words down and the mise ca scene;
He had copyisis ready at home to transcnbe, and
tie stolen goods their way to tho provincial
| heaters in n few hoursD But the London theaters
also pirated the author. Moncrch deposed thar he
! produced Giovanni" a musical piece, al MINOR
]
had l~NonOpoly in legitimate pieces cent INTO sur
rev Mc it and played it IN the teeth OF the author
| The manager made thousands by II, ana DrCughV
ont Madame Ves;Ys in it. and she made thou sands.
| 1t was only the poor author that was SWinaieu iOf
| enIiching both manager and actor lhat |lcilh oi
ten Thousand WRONGS dared not resist TINS piece ol
( scniIndrclisn: or the mOnOpolists would have cN-
cluded him altogether from tho market narrowed by
monopoly.
INDIRECT EFFECTS OF PIRACY.
But prac, has also its indirect effects. Even hon
Ia, ortl ftpV q
others stealing BY "1he Rent Day" the theatcr
cleared f2OO00, but the author only $50; and Tor
"Blacll Eyed Susan" which saved Manager Elliston
| from banErlptcv and made him flourish like a green
! bay tree the autIoT received only tG0 whereas the
actor. Cooke who played n single part in it, Cleared
| 81 600 during its tiTst run, and afterward made
fortune out of it in tho country heaters, which dld
not pay the author at all.
The Commissioners proceeded fairly They heard
the authors relate their wrongs, the monopOst de-
feud their monopolies and the pirates prove their
rbefrs pure Tariotislns-as usual and, after wcisd-
ing the miscellaneous evidence OF foryonc authors,
actors and Managers they reported 20 Parliament
deep decline of the British drama, ana denounced as
H. Two cq.rse tie mons ;rous monopoly of the
arcr.. and tie Insecurity of the antAors property;
on H., In, Ter hC these are their ins ructiyc words
a dramatic author at present IS subjected 10 lndc-
feqse hArdAiius and injustice and the ulspttlty 81
the projection Afforded 10 his ahnrs, when compared
I
| branch q. Letters seems alone sufficient 10 divert tle
| ambition OF eminent and su' coastal writers 1loil
| tbat drl,aftlnant ~ Intellectual oNcrtOn."
Ther@,pon Ii.liancnt, in the interest OF Justice
and sound national policy, took away from the two
patent theateTs thef wicked inonopoiE, and secftl
/ the property of dralnail.t Dy STRINGENT t'I,ct-
| lncnt Avoiding the Injustice Of Queen Auhcs Haf-
! lament aS Interpreted Dy Camden q Coz they di'i
not cGrtail staec-Iight: they made II secure, bus
Irft IL u.r.et,.ai: Some years aiierWaId IFS dula-
ton was coolly cUtailed 1t the Tag ehd 0i copy
/ right act
c0PYnIGur AND sTAGE-mGHT MADE personal
PROPERTIES.
This is the mere legal history of two sacred proper
ti,s M to the dates when Parliament, after profound
considerations and fall discussion at wide intervals
did. without haste OF prejudice any Of thos per-
tufbDg influences with which Lord Camden cor
rpted the Peers ofhis day. declare both these proper
ties to bo not nonopchos, but personal properties.
| The full statutory definition amounts to this
"thoy are personal properties, sacred during tho
tsr1u Of their statutory existence that they carry
main feature of real property; the very proprietor
cannot convey them 10 another. bY word OF mouth !:
and indeed. bare license TO PRINT, o topelIoi1 IN
theatcr cOncurrcntly with the proprietor Is Nod ll-
less given in writing" This distinct recognition Of
property was Il return, iii principle, to tle common
law and the principle was too just ana hcalthy not
IA grow and expand. Exceptional law u bad
! law; ard stands still. Coed law is OF wide ap-
plication. and therefore grows
MODERN VIEWS OF NATIONAL FORESIGHT
When one nation takes wider views Of justice or
durable policy than other nations We do not say,
like our forefathers, "That nation is hare-braincd."
We say nowadays "That nation is before the rest -
implying that We shall be sure to initiate that supe
rior nation soon or lae and we always do. France
saw thirty years ago that children must not be
starved, and so murdered, by alulerated milk She
enlisted science; detected, fined, imprisoned the
adultcrators and made them adyerise their own
disgrace in several journals She was not lad, nor
divine: she was human, but ahead.