tion with Blackstone, held that an abridgment of Hawkesworth's "Voyages," involving understanding and skill, was not plagiarism or a copyright wrong, but "an allowable and meritorious work." In the leading American case of Story's "Commentaries," Story w. Holcombe, in 1847, in the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice McLean, while expressing his own opinion that "an abridgment, if fairly made, contains the principle of the original work, and this constitutes its value," added, "but a contrary doctrine has long been established in England . . . and in this country the same doctrine has prevailed. I am, therefore, bound by precedent, and I yield to it in this instance, more as a principle of law than a rule of reason or justice." Similarly, in Lawrence v. Dana, in 1869, Judge Clifford, in the U.S. Circuit Court, declared that "an abridgment ought to be regarded as an infringement . . . but the opposite doctrine has been too long established to be considered open to controversy." The language of the new code frees the courts from these precedents and settles the American law.
Compila-
tionsIn respect to compilations, these are protected by specific mention (sec. 6) in the new law, and also by the classification as books (sec. 5, a) of "composite and cyclopaedic works, directories, gazetteers, and other compilations." Compilations can be protected even if consisting solely of non-copyright material, "because of the originality, arrangement, selection, abridgment, or amplification of such simple material," as stated in the Scotch Court of Session, in the case of Lennie v. Pillans in 1843, with which later English and American decisions are in accord.
CollectionsCollections are copyrightable as compilations or otherwise, and where the use of copyrighted poems or other copyright material is permitted, these are protected by general copyright notice on the collection.
