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Literary Property Act , Madrid (1847)
Source: Archivo del Congreso de los Diputados, Exp. Propiedad Literaria (1847)
Citation:
Literary Property Act , Madrid (1847), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
12 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
N. 203
Literary Property
Act passed on 30 April 1847; on literary
property
Chapter 1 Page 2
CONGRESS
OF
DEPUTIES
Madame
Having taken into consideration the legislative
project on literary property submitted to the Cortes
by the government of Your Majesty, the Congress of
Deputies has approved, in accordance with the Senate, -
the following:
Title I
Of Authors' Rights
Article 1- By virtue of this law,
the term literary property refers to the
exclusive right given to authors of original
writings to reproduce them or authorise
their reproduction by means of manuscript
printed, lithographed copies or by
any other similar means.
Article 2 - The property right declared
in the preceding article belongs to the authors
for life and it passes on to their heirs-at-law
or testamentary heirs for fifty years.
Chapter 1 Page 3
Article 3- . Identical right belongs to:
1. Translators in verse of written
works in spoken languages.
2. Translators in verse or prose
of works written in dead languages.
3. Authors of sermons, pleadings,
lectures or any other speeches given
in public and and authors of articles
and original poems in newspapers,
when these different writings have been
compiled in a collection.
4. Authors of geographical charts,
musical composers, calligraphers and
draughtsmen except those in relation to
drawings used in textiles; furniture and
other items of everyday use, that shall be
covered by the rules enacted or to be
enacted for the protection of industrial
property.
5. Painters and sculptors regarding
the reproduction of their works by engraving
or by any other means.
Article 4- . It belongs to the author
for life and it passes on to their heirs
for twenty five years:
1. The property of the writings specified
in the third paragraph of the preceding article
article, if their its authors had not compile them
in collections.
2. The property of translators in prose
of works written in spoken languages,taking
into account that they shall not be able to
avid the publication of different translations
of the same work.
If the first translator initiates
Chapter 1 Page 4
proceedings against a new translation, claiming
that such translation does not constitute a
new work derived from the original but a reproduction
of his work with slight modifications, the judge
shall admit the claim and shall decide after hearing
the report of two expert witnesses appointed by the parties
and a third expert appointed in case of disagreement.
For the purposes of this law, the edition in
Spanish of an original work made by a foreign
author already published in his contry in his own
language shall be considered a translation.
Article 5- The property of the following works
shall last for fifty years from the day of publication
and it belongs to:
1. The state in respect to the works published
by the government at public expense.
2. Any scientific, literary or artistic societies
to which the law grants corporate personality, in respect
of their commissioned works and their editions of
unpublished works.
This article shall apply neither to calendars nor
to eclessiastical prayer books or to any work that the
Government has reserved for its own the exclusive and unlimited
reproduction, or has licensed its reproduction to an institute
or corporation as required by public convenience.
Article 6- . Those, who publish for the first time a
codex, map, drawing, letter sample or musical composition
shall have a property right for twenty years from the day of
publication if they were their legitimate possessors [of those
items] or if they had been duly authorised to take them out
from a public library.
Chapter 1 Page 5
Article 7- . Those who, according to previous
articles, had the exclusive right to reproduce
a work, shall be able to transfer and transmit [this
right] by all the means recognised by law and for the
whole period of time or for a shorter period that
respectively belongs to each of the authors.
Article 8- .When the works mentioned in the
preceding articles were posthumous, the said terms
shall be counted from the day in which they were
first published.
For the purposes of this article, posthumous
works shall be understood to comprise a work published
during the life of the author, if it is being reproduced
afterwards with alterations or corrections.
Article 9- . Publishers of anonymous or publishers of
works appearing under pseudonymous shall enjoy the same
rights as those given to authors. However, if those authors,
thei heirs or the assigns of authors prove that the property
belongs to them, they shall begin to fully enjoy the right
remaining period of time left in the term given to the
corresponding category of work mentioned above.
riores artículos.
Article 10- .Nobody shall be able to reproduce someone's
else work with the excuse of annotating, commenting, adding,
or improving the edition without the consent of its author.
Nevertheless these additions and annotations of someone's
else work could be published separately. In this case, they
shall be considered the owners of such work.
Article 11- .The author's consent is also required in
order to produce an
Chapter 1 Page 6
extract or a compendium of his work.
Nevertheless if the extract or compendium were
of such merit and importance that would constitute
a new work, or if it would give it a general utility,
the government shall be allowed to authorize
its reprint, after hearing the interested parties
and three experts witnesses appointed by it.
In this case, the author or owner of the primitive
work shall have the right to be compensated.
The amount of the compensation shall be determined
after hearing the interested parties and the experts
witnesses, and it shall be annotated in the declaration
of utility which has also to be made public.
Article 12-. Laws, decrees, royal orders, rules,
and other documents published by the government in
the gazette or any other official newspaper could be
reproduced in other newspapers and in other works that because of
their nature and content need to quote, comment, criticise or copy
them verbatim; but no one could print them in a collection
without the explicit authorisation from the government.
Article 13- .No author shall enjoy the benefits of this
law without producing evidence of having deposited a copy of his work
in the National Library and another copy at the Ministry
of Public Instruction before Before the announcement of its sale.
If the works had been published outside the province
of Madrid, their authors and publishers shall fulfill this
obligation by proving to have deposited two copies at the
Political Head of the province who will send them to the
Ministry of Public Instruction and to the National Library.
Chapter 1 Page 7
Article 14-. When the term provided
by this law to authors or editor and to their
heirs or the assigns of authors expires, or when
there is no owner or proprietor of a work,
the work shall enter into the public domain.
Article 15- .For the purposes of this law,
the Spanish author of a work shall not loose his right
when he firstly publishes it abroad.
However, works in Spanish language printed abroad
should not be introduced in the Spanish dominions
without the prior authorisation from the government.
This authorisation shall be given with a limit of
five hundred copies, and when the work is of utility
and known importance.
Title II
Of Dramatic Works
Article 16- . With regard to the right of reproduction,
dramatic works will be subjected to the regulations contained
in the title I of this law.
Article 17- .With regard to their representation in theatres,
the following regulations shall be observed:
1. No dramatic composition could be represented in
public theatres without the prior consent of the author.
2.This right belonging to dramatic authors will last
for their lives and it will pass on to their heirs-at-law
or testamentary heirs for twenty five years after his death.
After this, these works shall enter into the public domain
in respect to their right of representation.
Chapter 1 Page 8
Article 18-. What is stated in the two
previous articles in relation to the reproduction
of dramatic works and their representation in theatres
shall apply to the reproduction and representation
of musical compositions.
Title III
Of Penalties
Article 19- . Whoever reproduces someone else's
work without autorisation from the author
or from the person subrogated in the right to publish it
shall be subjected to the following penalties:
1. To lose all copies found of the work
fraudulently printed which shall be given to
the author of the work or the assigns of the author.
2. To pay all damages and remedies suffered by
the author or the owner of the work. The amount of the
compensation shall not be less than the value of two
thousands copies. If evidence is produced that the
fraudulent edition has reached this number of copies,
the amount of the compensation shall not be less than
the value of three thousand copies, and so on and so forth.
In so doing, the value of the copy will always be taken to be
the price at which the author or his assign sells the legitimate
edition.
3. To the cost of proceedings.
If the offence is repeated, these penalties shall be increased
with a fine that cannot be less than two thousand rials, and not
exceeeding four thousand.
Chapter 1 Page 9
If the offence is further repeated,
one or two years of prison sentence in a correctional
institution will be added to the the penalties
specified in the preceding paragraphs.
Article 20-. The same penalties shall be
applicable to:
1. Those who reproduce abroad works of
individual property printed in Spanish language.
2. Authors of works introduced in the Spanish
dominions without the authorisation of the government
or in a greater number of copies than the limit
authorised by the government.
3. The printer who falsifies the title or cover
page of a work, or who prints (stamps) on it
to have published the work in Spain when it was
however done abroad.
4. The owner of the newspaper who
steals the title of another current newspaper.
Article 21-. If the fraudulent publisher
is not found, or when these penalties could not
be made effective because he is dead, insolvent
or because of any other cause, these penalties
shall be imposed on the printer. His establishments
will be shut if he repeats the offence three times.
Article 22-. For the application of the
penal provisions to which the preceding articles
refer, authors shall be understood as persons or
corporations with the exclusive right to publish and
reproduce works for a shorter or longer period of
t ime recognised by the law.
Article 23-. The impresario of a theatre
in which representations of a dramatic or
Chapter 1 Page 10
musical without the prior consent of the
author or the owner shall compensate
the interested parties with a fine that could
not be less than a thousand rials, without
exceeding three thousand. If he had also
changed the title to hide the fraud, he shall
be imposed the obligation of paying a double
fine.
Article 24-. In all these proceedings,
jurisdiction is found in the first instance courts,
with appeal to the ordinary superior courts and
with derogation of any privileged disposition.
Article 25- If the author or the owner knew
that his work is being printed or sold furtively,
he may apply to the Judge from the place where
the fraud is committed to prohibit the printing
and sale of the work. The judge shall proceed
according to the terms and measures legally
established.
General Provisions
Article 26-. The government
shall attempt to sign treaties or arrangments
with foreign countries also desirous to reciprocally
prohibit that works written in another country could
be published or reprinted in another without
the prior authorisation of their authors or legitimate
owners and therefore diminishing their property.
Article 27. The effects and benefits of this
law will affect all proprietors of works that
have not yet entered in
Chapter 1 Page 11
the public domain.
Article 28-. The one who had bought
the property of one of the author’s works
shall enjoy it for the term stated in the law.
When the term expires, the property shall
return to the author, who shall enjoy it for
the rest of the time period related to each
category of works legally determined.
And the Congress of Deputies passes for
the approval of Your Majesty. Palacio del Congreso
Madame
A.L.R.P. de V.M.
Marquis of Gerona
President
El Duque de Berwick y de Alba
Secretary
Juan Comyn
Deputy Secretary
Federico Vahey
Deputy Secretary
Diego Coello y Quesada
Deputy Secretary
Palacio 30 April 1847
To be published as law
Isabel
Minister of Justice
Florencio Rodríguez Vaamonde
Chapter 1 Page 12
MINISTRY
OF
GRACE AND JUSTICE
Your Excellencies,
The Queen (Q.D.G.) deigned
to pass the Literary Property Act
and by royal order I communicate this
to Your Excellencies,
attaching the original copy of
the law, as for the purposes that may
arise at the Senate.
May God grant Your Excellencies
many years. Madrid
30 April 1847
Florencio Rodríguez
Vaamonde
Translation by: José Bellido
Source: Archivo del Congreso de los Diputados, Exp. Propiedad Literaria (1847)
Citation:
Literary Property Act , Madrid (1847), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
12 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
N. 203
Literary Property
Act passed on 30 April 1847; on literary
property
Chapter 1 Page 2
CONGRESS
OF
DEPUTIES
Madame
Having taken into consideration the legislative
project on literary property submitted to the Cortes
by the government of Your Majesty, the Congress of
Deputies has approved, in accordance with the Senate, -
the following:
Title I
Of Authors' Rights
Article 1- By virtue of this law,
the term literary property refers to the
exclusive right given to authors of original
writings to reproduce them or authorise
their reproduction by means of manuscript
printed, lithographed copies or by
any other similar means.
Article 2 - The property right declared
in the preceding article belongs to the authors
for life and it passes on to their heirs-at-law
or testamentary heirs for fifty years.
Chapter 1 Page 3
Article 3- . Identical right belongs to:
1. Translators in verse of written
works in spoken languages.
2. Translators in verse or prose
of works written in dead languages.
3. Authors of sermons, pleadings,
lectures or any other speeches given
in public and and authors of articles
and original poems in newspapers,
when these different writings have been
compiled in a collection.
4. Authors of geographical charts,
musical composers, calligraphers and
draughtsmen except those in relation to
drawings used in textiles; furniture and
other items of everyday use, that shall be
covered by the rules enacted or to be
enacted for the protection of industrial
property.
5. Painters and sculptors regarding
the reproduction of their works by engraving
or by any other means.
Article 4- . It belongs to the author
for life and it passes on to their heirs
for twenty five years:
1. The property of the writings specified
in the third paragraph of the preceding article
article, if their its authors had not compile them
in collections.
2. The property of translators in prose
of works written in spoken languages,taking
into account that they shall not be able to
avid the publication of different translations
of the same work.
If the first translator initiates
Chapter 1 Page 4
proceedings against a new translation, claiming
that such translation does not constitute a
new work derived from the original but a reproduction
of his work with slight modifications, the judge
shall admit the claim and shall decide after hearing
the report of two expert witnesses appointed by the parties
and a third expert appointed in case of disagreement.
For the purposes of this law, the edition in
Spanish of an original work made by a foreign
author already published in his contry in his own
language shall be considered a translation.
Article 5- The property of the following works
shall last for fifty years from the day of publication
and it belongs to:
1. The state in respect to the works published
by the government at public expense.
2. Any scientific, literary or artistic societies
to which the law grants corporate personality, in respect
of their commissioned works and their editions of
unpublished works.
This article shall apply neither to calendars nor
to eclessiastical prayer books or to any work that the
Government has reserved for its own the exclusive and unlimited
reproduction, or has licensed its reproduction to an institute
or corporation as required by public convenience.
Article 6- . Those, who publish for the first time a
codex, map, drawing, letter sample or musical composition
shall have a property right for twenty years from the day of
publication if they were their legitimate possessors [of those
items] or if they had been duly authorised to take them out
from a public library.
Chapter 1 Page 5
Article 7- . Those who, according to previous
articles, had the exclusive right to reproduce
a work, shall be able to transfer and transmit [this
right] by all the means recognised by law and for the
whole period of time or for a shorter period that
respectively belongs to each of the authors.
Article 8- .When the works mentioned in the
preceding articles were posthumous, the said terms
shall be counted from the day in which they were
first published.
For the purposes of this article, posthumous
works shall be understood to comprise a work published
during the life of the author, if it is being reproduced
afterwards with alterations or corrections.
Article 9- . Publishers of anonymous or publishers of
works appearing under pseudonymous shall enjoy the same
rights as those given to authors. However, if those authors,
thei heirs or the assigns of authors prove that the property
belongs to them, they shall begin to fully enjoy the right
remaining period of time left in the term given to the
corresponding category of work mentioned above.
riores artículos.
Article 10- .Nobody shall be able to reproduce someone's
else work with the excuse of annotating, commenting, adding,
or improving the edition without the consent of its author.
Nevertheless these additions and annotations of someone's
else work could be published separately. In this case, they
shall be considered the owners of such work.
Article 11- .The author's consent is also required in
order to produce an
Chapter 1 Page 6
extract or a compendium of his work.
Nevertheless if the extract or compendium were
of such merit and importance that would constitute
a new work, or if it would give it a general utility,
the government shall be allowed to authorize
its reprint, after hearing the interested parties
and three experts witnesses appointed by it.
In this case, the author or owner of the primitive
work shall have the right to be compensated.
The amount of the compensation shall be determined
after hearing the interested parties and the experts
witnesses, and it shall be annotated in the declaration
of utility which has also to be made public.
Article 12-. Laws, decrees, royal orders, rules,
and other documents published by the government in
the gazette or any other official newspaper could be
reproduced in other newspapers and in other works that because of
their nature and content need to quote, comment, criticise or copy
them verbatim; but no one could print them in a collection
without the explicit authorisation from the government.
Article 13- .No author shall enjoy the benefits of this
law without producing evidence of having deposited a copy of his work
in the National Library and another copy at the Ministry
of Public Instruction before Before the announcement of its sale.
If the works had been published outside the province
of Madrid, their authors and publishers shall fulfill this
obligation by proving to have deposited two copies at the
Political Head of the province who will send them to the
Ministry of Public Instruction and to the National Library.
Chapter 1 Page 7
Article 14-. When the term provided
by this law to authors or editor and to their
heirs or the assigns of authors expires, or when
there is no owner or proprietor of a work,
the work shall enter into the public domain.
Article 15- .For the purposes of this law,
the Spanish author of a work shall not loose his right
when he firstly publishes it abroad.
However, works in Spanish language printed abroad
should not be introduced in the Spanish dominions
without the prior authorisation from the government.
This authorisation shall be given with a limit of
five hundred copies, and when the work is of utility
and known importance.
Title II
Of Dramatic Works
Article 16- . With regard to the right of reproduction,
dramatic works will be subjected to the regulations contained
in the title I of this law.
Article 17- .With regard to their representation in theatres,
the following regulations shall be observed:
1. No dramatic composition could be represented in
public theatres without the prior consent of the author.
2.This right belonging to dramatic authors will last
for their lives and it will pass on to their heirs-at-law
or testamentary heirs for twenty five years after his death.
After this, these works shall enter into the public domain
in respect to their right of representation.
Chapter 1 Page 8
Article 18-. What is stated in the two
previous articles in relation to the reproduction
of dramatic works and their representation in theatres
shall apply to the reproduction and representation
of musical compositions.
Title III
Of Penalties
Article 19- . Whoever reproduces someone else's
work without autorisation from the author
or from the person subrogated in the right to publish it
shall be subjected to the following penalties:
1. To lose all copies found of the work
fraudulently printed which shall be given to
the author of the work or the assigns of the author.
2. To pay all damages and remedies suffered by
the author or the owner of the work. The amount of the
compensation shall not be less than the value of two
thousands copies. If evidence is produced that the
fraudulent edition has reached this number of copies,
the amount of the compensation shall not be less than
the value of three thousand copies, and so on and so forth.
In so doing, the value of the copy will always be taken to be
the price at which the author or his assign sells the legitimate
edition.
3. To the cost of proceedings.
If the offence is repeated, these penalties shall be increased
with a fine that cannot be less than two thousand rials, and not
exceeeding four thousand.
Chapter 1 Page 9
If the offence is further repeated,
one or two years of prison sentence in a correctional
institution will be added to the the penalties
specified in the preceding paragraphs.
Article 20-. The same penalties shall be
applicable to:
1. Those who reproduce abroad works of
individual property printed in Spanish language.
2. Authors of works introduced in the Spanish
dominions without the authorisation of the government
or in a greater number of copies than the limit
authorised by the government.
3. The printer who falsifies the title or cover
page of a work, or who prints (stamps) on it
to have published the work in Spain when it was
however done abroad.
4. The owner of the newspaper who
steals the title of another current newspaper.
Article 21-. If the fraudulent publisher
is not found, or when these penalties could not
be made effective because he is dead, insolvent
or because of any other cause, these penalties
shall be imposed on the printer. His establishments
will be shut if he repeats the offence three times.
Article 22-. For the application of the
penal provisions to which the preceding articles
refer, authors shall be understood as persons or
corporations with the exclusive right to publish and
reproduce works for a shorter or longer period of
t ime recognised by the law.
Article 23-. The impresario of a theatre
in which representations of a dramatic or
Chapter 1 Page 10
musical without the prior consent of the
author or the owner shall compensate
the interested parties with a fine that could
not be less than a thousand rials, without
exceeding three thousand. If he had also
changed the title to hide the fraud, he shall
be imposed the obligation of paying a double
fine.
Article 24-. In all these proceedings,
jurisdiction is found in the first instance courts,
with appeal to the ordinary superior courts and
with derogation of any privileged disposition.
Article 25- If the author or the owner knew
that his work is being printed or sold furtively,
he may apply to the Judge from the place where
the fraud is committed to prohibit the printing
and sale of the work. The judge shall proceed
according to the terms and measures legally
established.
General Provisions
Article 26-. The government
shall attempt to sign treaties or arrangments
with foreign countries also desirous to reciprocally
prohibit that works written in another country could
be published or reprinted in another without
the prior authorisation of their authors or legitimate
owners and therefore diminishing their property.
Article 27. The effects and benefits of this
law will affect all proprietors of works that
have not yet entered in
Chapter 1 Page 11
the public domain.
Article 28-. The one who had bought
the property of one of the author’s works
shall enjoy it for the term stated in the law.
When the term expires, the property shall
return to the author, who shall enjoy it for
the rest of the time period related to each
category of works legally determined.
And the Congress of Deputies passes for
the approval of Your Majesty. Palacio del Congreso
Madame
A.L.R.P. de V.M.
Marquis of Gerona
President
El Duque de Berwick y de Alba
Secretary
Juan Comyn
Deputy Secretary
Federico Vahey
Deputy Secretary
Diego Coello y Quesada
Deputy Secretary
Palacio 30 April 1847
To be published as law
Isabel
Minister of Justice
Florencio Rodríguez Vaamonde
Chapter 1 Page 12
MINISTRY
OF
GRACE AND JUSTICE
Your Excellencies,
The Queen (Q.D.G.) deigned
to pass the Literary Property Act
and by royal order I communicate this
to Your Excellencies,
attaching the original copy of
the law, as for the purposes that may
arise at the Senate.
May God grant Your Excellencies
many years. Madrid
30 April 1847
Florencio Rodríguez
Vaamonde
Translation by: José Bellido