LITERARY PROPERTY. 327 LITERARY PROPERTY. the departments. The most important modifica- tions of this act have been in connecliun with the Convention of Bern of 1886-87, and the Conven- tion with the United States in 1891, reference to which will be made hiter. The earliest German privilege of which there is trnstworthy record was issued in 1.501 by the Aulic Council to an association entitled" the Sodalitas Rlienana Celtica, for the publication of an edition of the dramas of Hroswitha of Gandersheim, whidi edition had been prepared for the press by Konrad Celtes. These dramas liad lieen written about 98.5. This Hroswitha privilege, while later than the early Venice privileges, antedates by two years the first in- stance in France, and by seventeen years the first in England. After 1501 there is a long series of Imperial privileges issued directly by the Im- perial Chancellor in the name of the Emperor. In 1512 an Imperial privilege was issued to the historiographer .John Stadius, for all that he should print, the first European privilege which was made to cover more than a single work or which undertook to protect books not yet pub- lished. An Imperial patent of 1685 uses the terms (as if in antithesis to each other) 'A privileged book' and 'A book purchased from its author.' Later we find references to 'privileged' and 'non-privileged' books, under the latter being imderstood original works by contemporary writers. Putter (who may be called the father of the modern theory of property in literary pro- ductions), writing in 1774, uses for the unprivi- leged books the term eif/rnthumlich (individual) and for the privileged the term virht-eiyfnthinn- lich (non-individual). Literary piracy in Ger- many began almost at once with the invention of printing. Before manuscript copies had been replaced by printed books, the possession of a mantiscript was held to carrj- with it the right to make copies of the same ad Uhitum. As a natural consequence of this practice, the posses- sion of a printed copy of a work was for a con- siderable time also believed to carry with it the right to make and dispose of further printed copies, and the first upholders of an author's copyright found themselves obliged to contend against the claim of "ancient precedent.' Early in the history of the German book trade, there arose, however, a practice among the leading publishers of respecting each other's imdertak- ings, irrespective of any privileges or of other legal protection given to the works in question. To this practice there were, of course, numerous exceptions, but it exercised nevertheless, during the period previous to the existence of a national copyright system, an important influence in indicating the tendency of the book trade and that of the reading public to a recognition of and a respect for literary property. It also placed the publishers in a better position to make sat- isfactory payments to the authors or editors employed by them. The many important publica- tions of Koberger of Xiiremberg. whose business activity dated from 147.3. were issued entirely without privilege, and with a few exceptions were not interfered with by rival publishers. In 1532 the magistrates of Xiiremberg. acting on behalf of the widow of Albert Diirer. enjoined Hans Giildemund from reengraving the Tritimph- waften and selling impressions of his plate. In the same year these magistrates cautioned all the booksellers of Nuremberg against keeping in stock or .celling any copies of a certain unauthor- ized edition of DUrer's Inntruction in PerHpective. Under the order of the magistrates of the city of Basel, issued in October. 1.5.'J1. printers of books in that city were enjoined for a [leriod of three years, under the penalty of 100 gulden, from reprinting or pirating the books of one another. Until nearly the end of the eighteenth century, the protection of literary property in Germany depended upon a system of privileges, Imperia'l or local, but these privileges were for the most part concerned simply with the property inter- ests of the publishers and printers, but a small proportion of them having to do with modern books or with the rights of living authors. Such privileges covered at the outset three classes of literary undertakings: first, official publications — a term including in the earlier times the service books of the Church and school text-books, as well as the authorized text of Government edicts, laws, and enactments ; secondlj-, editions of works taken from the body of the world's literature (literarisches Gemeingut) , i.e. the first printing {Vordruck) of the same: and third, new liooks presenting the first consideration of a specific subject, more particularly of a scientific, tech- nical, or practical nature. For this last class of undertaking, the recipient of the privilege claimed a control not only of the specific book which he had produced or of which he was the owner, but the monopoly for the time l)eing. within the district covered by the privilege, of the subject considered in such book. The writer who had produced a book on "The U.se of Herbs." or the publisher who had employed a writer to prepare such a book (the subject not having been treated before or at least not recently), would consider himself aggrieved and would con- tend that his rights had been infringed, if within the same territory the publication of another book on herbs .should be permitted. If the privilege covered an edition of a Latin author, the holder believed himself authorized to prevent the publication, within the territory covered by his privilege, of any other edition of the same author, even though such competing edition might, in respect to the revision of the text and to the editorial work in the notes and com- mentaries, be entirely distinct from his own. Local privileges of this kind, which undertook to give to the possessor an exclusive control, during a certain term, for a specified classic te-xt. were, of course, practically identical with the trade monopolies, also characteristic of the age, which were conceded for the sale, within specific terrritories. of articles such as salt or wool. In 1794. legislation was inaugurated in the Pru.ssian Parliament which was accepted by the other States of Germany (excepting Wiirtteniberg and .Mecklenburg), under which all German au- thors and foreign authors whose works were represented by publishers taking part in the book fairs in Frankfort and Leipzig, were to be protected throughout the States of Germany against unauthorized re-print.s. This Berlin en- actment may be credited as the first step toward a practical recognition of international copy- right. Tt proved, however, difficult, at least until after 1815, to enforce the provisions of these interstate enactments. The first copyright privilege in England bears date 1518 and" was issued to Richard Pynson,
