Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900)

www.copyrighthistory.org

Identifier: f_1725b

Commentary on Louis d'Héricourt's memorandum

Frédéric Rideau

Faculty of Law, University of Poitiers, France

Please cite as:

Rideau, F. (2010) ‘Commentary on Louis d'Héricourt's memorandum (1725)', in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

1. Full title

2. Abstract

3. References

1. Full title

Memorandum by Louis d'Héricourt, addressed to M. the Keepers of the Seals

2. Abstract

In the 1720s, the lawyer Louis d' Héricourt put himself at the disposal of the Parisian booksellers, who felt threatened by the increasingly sharp protests of their counterparts from the provinces. The latter disputed indeed, as in England, monopolies still preserved by Louis XIV and the policy of Colbert regarding the 1686 or 1701 regulations, and confirmed in 1723 by the Code of the Book Trade. The memorandum presented by Louis d' Héricourt at this occasion to the Keeper of the Seals Armenonville, constitutes the first defence of the exclusive rights of the Parisian corporation under a clear legal qualification of literary property right based upon the work of the author himself. In essence an argument based on Lockean ideas, the recognition of such a property had as an inevitable consequence on the traditional perception of the privileges of the book trade and the royal sovereignty in the discretion of their granting.

3. References

full commentary in preparation