Page:California Historical Society Quarterly vol 22.djvu/38

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to be kept by him for that purpose. The manuscript record so kept comprises the official hst of copyrights issued. The author or proprietor was also required to deposit a copy with the United States Secretary of State within six months of publication.

Many amendments to the copyright law were enacted from 1790 to 1870. In 1802 prints were added to the list of material protected by copyright.* A law passed in 1831^ required that within three months the claimant was to deposit a copy of his work, not with the Secretary of State as formerly, but with the Clerk of the District Court, and the Clerk was enjoined to send, at least once a year, to the Secretary of State a certified list of all such records of copyright, including the titles so recorded, the dates of records, and also all the several copies of books and other works deposited in his office. The idea of building up a national repository of the literature produced in this country, and of protecting the author by an official record, led to the act of 1 846,^ which provided that within three months of publication one copy of each item should be delivered to the Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, and one to the Librarian of Congress. In 1859^^ a law was approved which centered the records, deposits, and functions in the Patent Office; and the materials in the Department of State were transferred to this office. The law requiring copies to be deposited in the Smithsonian Institution and in the Library of Congress was repealed. In 1865^ the Library of Congress was again made the depository and the proprietor was required to deposit the copy within one month of publication. In this same measure, of March 3, 1865, the privilege of the copyright was extended to include photographs and their negatives. In 1870^ a new copyright law was enacted in which the registration of copyright was centered in the Library of Congress, and all records and deposits in the Patent Office and in the many District Courts were to be turned over to that institution.

The District Courts for Northern and for Southern California were established by Act of September 28, 1850.^° Ogden Hoffman held the office of judge of the District Court for Northern California from February 27, 1851 , to July 27, 1866, on which date the Court was reorganized. James McLIall Jones was appointed judge for the Southern District of California on December 26, 1 850, but was prevented by illness from assuming his legal duties, his death occurring on December 15, 1851.^^ Isaac S. K. Ogier, his successor, was not appointed until January 23, 1854, and held office until May 1861. Fletcher M. Haight, who succeeded him on August 5, 1861, served as judge until his death on February 23, 1866. The Court for the Southern District was abolished on July 27, 1 866,^^ at which time the two courts were united as the District Court of California at San Francisco, Judge Hoffman presiding. The Southern District was recreated by act of August 5, 1886.^^ By the terms of the act of July 27, 1866, abolishing the Southern District, the Clerk