PRIMARY SOURCES
ON COPYRIGHT
(1450-1900)
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Copyright Act, Madrid (1879)
Source: Archivo del Congreso de los Diputados, ES. 28079. ACD, P-0002-01051
Citation:
Copyright Act, Madrid (1879), 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
16 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
CONGRESS
OF
DEPUTIES
Archives
N. 1051
Act passed by Your Mayesty on copyright
Chapter 1 Page 2
Sir
The Cortes have approved the following
Copyright
Bill:
--------
Nature and Scope
Article 1.-For the purposes of this law,
copyright shall cover scientific, literary, and
artistic works which are capable of being published
by any means whatsoever.
Article 2.-Copyright belongs to:
1. Authors in respect to their works.
2. Translators in respect to their translations,
if the original work is foreign and
and it is not prohibited by international conventions,
if the original work is Spanish and
or has entered into the public domain or
Chapter 1 Page 3
the author has authorised it.
3.- Those who, if the work is Spanish,
recast, extract, compile or reproduce original
works with their owners' consent,
in respect to their works.
4.-Publishers of unpublished works
without a known owner, or of an
unpublished work of a known author
that had entered the public domain.
5.- Heirs of the persons aforementioned
who have received the property by inheritance
or by another way of transmitting the
right of property.
Article 3.-The benefits of this law
are also extended to:
1.-Authors of maps, plans or scientific designs.
2.- Musical composers
3.- Authors of works of art in respect
to the reproduction of their works by any means.
4.- Assigns of the persons aforementioned.
Article 4.- The benefits of this law-
are also extended to:
1. The State and its Corporations,
Chapter 1 Page 4
and to provincial and municipal authorities.
2. Scientific, literary, or artistic academies
or any other academy of a different kind
legally incorporated.
Article 5.- Copyright shall be regulated
by the main civil law rules (derecho común) without
more limitations than those established by the law.
Article 6.- Copyright belongs to authors
for their lives and it passes on to their
heirs-at-law, testamentary heirs or
legatees for eighty years.
It is also transmissible by inter vivos
transfers, and therefore it shall belong
to these property acquirers for the life
of the author plus eighty years after
the death of the author, if he does not
have compulsory heirs. However, if he had
compulsory heirs, the right of these
acquirers shall expire twenty five years
after the death of the author, passing on
to these compulsory heirs for a period of
fifty five years.
Article 7.- No one shall be able to
reproduce someone else's work without the
owner's consent, not even for the purposes of
annotating, adding or improving the edition.
However, everybody shall be able to publish,
and this shall be their exclusive property,
commentaries, criticisms, and remarks
related to the works, including only
the part of the text required for those aims.
Chapter 1 Page 5
If the work is a musical work,
the prohibition also covers
the total or partial publication
of the melodies with or without
accompaniment, adapted or arranged
for other instruments or with
different lyrics in any other form
that is not the one published by
the author.
Article 8.- The publication of works
is not a requirement for copyright
protection. As a result, no one has
the right to publish a scientific,
literary or artistic work that
has been stenographied, annotated
or copied while reading,
(attending to) a performance or
private and public exhibition,
not even the oral speeches
without the consent of the author.
Article 9.-In the absence of proof to
the contrary, the sale of a work
of art does not include the
transfer of the reproduction right
nor the right of public exhibition
of the same work.
Those rights shall be reserved to
the author or his assigns.
Article 10.-In order to be able to copy
Chapter 1 Page 6
or reproduce by any means original
works of art exhibited in public
galleries while their authors are alive,
it is necessary to obtain their prior
permission.
Parliamentary Speeches
Article 11.-The author of a
parliamentary speech is his owner.
These speeches can only be reproduced
without his permission or that of his
representatives the Official Gazette
of the Chamber (Diario de las Sesiones)
of which he is a member and
in political newspapers.
Tanslations
Article 12.-If the translation
is first published in a foreign
country with which there is a
copyright convention, the terms of the treaty
shall regulate the controversies
which may arise. In case of controversies
to which the convention is silent,
this law shall apply.
Article 13.-The owners of
foreign works shall equally
enjoy their ownership in Spain,
subjected to laws of their
corresponding countries. Nevertheless
they will only enjoy the exclusive right of
translation
Chapter 1 Page 7
for the term of protection
given to original works in
the laws of their country.
Article 14.-The translator of
a work that entered the
public domain only have the property over
its translation and cannot
oppose the work being translated
again by others.
Article 15.-The rights given
in Spain by virtue of article 13
to the owners of foreign works
shall only apply to nations who
treat owners of Spanish works
with full reciprocity.
Legal Proceedings
Article 16.-All papers submitted
in legal proceedings shall belong
to the parties in whose name
they are presented.
However they shall not be able
to publish them without authorisation
from the trial court.
Permission shall be granted
after the decision had become
effective, when the court considers
the publication not likely to arouse
controversy and not prejudicial
to either party.
Lawyers who have written pleadings
and documents, may compile
Chapter 1 Page 8
them with the authorisation
of the trial court and
consent from the corresponding
party.
Article 17.-In order to be able
to publish copies or case extracts
from legal proceedings that
had concluded, it is required
the authorisation from the
trial court, that will grant
or refuse it at discretion,
without appeal.
Article 18.-When two or more people
request the authorisation,
the court may, depending on
the circumstances, accept one
and refuse the others,
establishing the terms and
conditions it may deem convenient.
Dramatic and musical works.
Article 19.-No dramatic or musical work
shall be performed in any
theatre or public space
whatsoever without the
owner's prior consent.
The effects of this article
shall be extended to all
performances made in societies
incorporated by any means
if a financial contribution
indeed existed.
Article 20.-The owners of dramatic
and musical works may freely
fixed the performing rights
Chapter 1 Page 9
when they give their authorisation.
However, if they do not fix them,
they may only claim what is specified
in the regulations.
Article 21.-No one may produce,
sell or rent any copy
of dramatic or musical works
not printed after their premiere,
without the owners' consent.
Article 22.-Unless otherwise stated,
the performing rights
of dramatico-musical works
will be divided in equal
shares between the owner
of the libretto and the
owner of the music.
Article 23.-The author of a libretto
or composition in music and performed
in public has the exclusive capacity
to separately print and sell the
literary output without the music.
The same applies to the composer,
who shall be able to do so in respect
to his musical part. If the author of
the libretto opposed the representation
of the work, the author of the music
may apply it to a new dramatic work.
Article 24.-Companies, associations
and individuals
Chapter 1 Page 10
that announce the performance
of a dramatic or musical work
changing its title, deleting,
altering or adding some of
its passages without the prior
author's consent shall
be considered to be a copyright
infringer.
Article 25.- The non-authorised
performance of a dramatic
or musical work in public
is punished with the penalties
established in the code and
with the lost of the profits from
the box office, that will be given
to the owner of the work performed.
Anonymous works.
Article 26.- Publishers of anonymous
and pseudonymous works shall enjoy
the same rights as the authors or
translators have in respect to their works,
as long as no evidence is produced
on the identity of the author or translator.
When this fact is proven, the author
or his assigns will substitute the
publisher in his rights.
Chapter 1 Page 11
Posthumous Works.
Article 27.- Posthumous works
are not only those unpublished
during the author's life
but also those published
during his life, if, upon his death,
he had left them rearranged,
annotated, added, or corrected
in such manner that they can be
considered new works.
If a controversy is raised
before the court, expert witnesses
will precede the decision.
Legislative Compilations.
Article 28.- Acts, decrees, royal orders,
regulations and the rest of
dispositions enacted by public
powers may be reproduced in
newspapers and in those works
that because of their nature and
character need to quote, comment,
criticise or copy them verbatim.
However, no one shall publish
them separately or in collection without
the explicit authorisation
from the government.
Newspapers.
Article 29.- Newspaper owners
who wish to secure their property
and assimilate it to literary productions
Chapter 1 Page 12
in order to enjoy the benefits
of this law,shall submit
three copies of their annual
collection of papers published
throughout that year to the
copyright registry.
Article 30.- The author or the translator
of works included or to be included
in newspapers or their assigns may
publish them in a selected or
comprehensive collection
of their writings, unless
otherwise agreed with the newspaper owner.
Article 31.- Writings and telegrams
published in newspapers can be
reproduced by by other newspapers
if the first company does not
explicitly state besides
the head title or
at the end of the news that
its reproduction is not allowed.
The original shall nevertheless
always be acknowledged.
Compilations.
Article 32.- The author or translator
of several scientific, literary
or artistic works can publish them
as a whole or separately in a collection.
Chapter 1 Page 13
even though he may have sold
them partially.
The author of speeches given
at the Royal Academies or
at any other institution,
can publish them in a collection
or separetely.
Scholars also enjoy the same
faculty in relation to their
essays written by permission
or commissioned by these Academies,
except those writings that belong
to these Academies as those devoted
to the special and continuing education
of the corresponding institute.
Registry
Article 33.- A general copyright Registry
shall be kept at the Ministry of Public Works.
Registers are also to be opened
in the provincial libraries, and,
in their absence, at high schools’
libraries in the capital of provinces.
In these registers, and in order
to get the protection afforded by this law,
scientific, literary, or artistic works
shall be indexed chronologically
Chapter 1 Page 25
In order to draft the copyright rules,
that will include Theatrical
Regulations, a Commission,
integrated by competent people,
shall be appointed.
And the Senate submits this law for
approval of Your Majesty,
Senate - Palace, 19 December 1878
President
Señor de Rubianes
Count of Casa-Galindo
Count of la Almina
[...]
To be published as law [Alfonso]
Palace, 23 December 1878
Chapter 1 Page 26
1878
Minister of Grace and Justice
[signed]
Fernando Calderón Collantes
Chapter 1 Page 27
[COAT OF ARMS]
Ministry of Grace
and Justice
Subsecretary
Section 1
Your Excellencies,
By order of Your Majesty
the King (q.D.g), I have the honour
to hand in Your Excellencies,
the attached original copy
of the copyright law, approved today,
in order to be dealt with
in the appropriate manner.
May God be with Your Excellencies
for many years, Madrid
23 December 1878
[signed]
Fernando Calderón Collantes
To the Deputies' secretaries at the Congress
Translation by: José Bellido
Source: Archivo del Congreso de los Diputados, ES. 28079. ACD, P-0002-01051
Citation:
Copyright Act, Madrid (1879), 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
16 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
CONGRESS
OF
DEPUTIES
Archives
N. 1051
Act passed by Your Mayesty on copyright
Chapter 1 Page 2
Sir
The Cortes have approved the following
Copyright
Bill:
--------
Nature and Scope
Article 1.-For the purposes of this law,
copyright shall cover scientific, literary, and
artistic works which are capable of being published
by any means whatsoever.
Article 2.-Copyright belongs to:
1. Authors in respect to their works.
2. Translators in respect to their translations,
if the original work is foreign and
and it is not prohibited by international conventions,
if the original work is Spanish and
or has entered into the public domain or
Chapter 1 Page 3
the author has authorised it.
3.- Those who, if the work is Spanish,
recast, extract, compile or reproduce original
works with their owners' consent,
in respect to their works.
4.-Publishers of unpublished works
without a known owner, or of an
unpublished work of a known author
that had entered the public domain.
5.- Heirs of the persons aforementioned
who have received the property by inheritance
or by another way of transmitting the
right of property.
Article 3.-The benefits of this law
are also extended to:
1.-Authors of maps, plans or scientific designs.
2.- Musical composers
3.- Authors of works of art in respect
to the reproduction of their works by any means.
4.- Assigns of the persons aforementioned.
Article 4.- The benefits of this law-
are also extended to:
1. The State and its Corporations,
Chapter 1 Page 4
and to provincial and municipal authorities.
2. Scientific, literary, or artistic academies
or any other academy of a different kind
legally incorporated.
Article 5.- Copyright shall be regulated
by the main civil law rules (derecho común) without
more limitations than those established by the law.
Article 6.- Copyright belongs to authors
for their lives and it passes on to their
heirs-at-law, testamentary heirs or
legatees for eighty years.
It is also transmissible by inter vivos
transfers, and therefore it shall belong
to these property acquirers for the life
of the author plus eighty years after
the death of the author, if he does not
have compulsory heirs. However, if he had
compulsory heirs, the right of these
acquirers shall expire twenty five years
after the death of the author, passing on
to these compulsory heirs for a period of
fifty five years.
Article 7.- No one shall be able to
reproduce someone else's work without the
owner's consent, not even for the purposes of
annotating, adding or improving the edition.
However, everybody shall be able to publish,
and this shall be their exclusive property,
commentaries, criticisms, and remarks
related to the works, including only
the part of the text required for those aims.
Chapter 1 Page 5
If the work is a musical work,
the prohibition also covers
the total or partial publication
of the melodies with or without
accompaniment, adapted or arranged
for other instruments or with
different lyrics in any other form
that is not the one published by
the author.
Article 8.- The publication of works
is not a requirement for copyright
protection. As a result, no one has
the right to publish a scientific,
literary or artistic work that
has been stenographied, annotated
or copied while reading,
(attending to) a performance or
private and public exhibition,
not even the oral speeches
without the consent of the author.
Article 9.-In the absence of proof to
the contrary, the sale of a work
of art does not include the
transfer of the reproduction right
nor the right of public exhibition
of the same work.
Those rights shall be reserved to
the author or his assigns.
Article 10.-In order to be able to copy
Chapter 1 Page 6
or reproduce by any means original
works of art exhibited in public
galleries while their authors are alive,
it is necessary to obtain their prior
permission.
Parliamentary Speeches
Article 11.-The author of a
parliamentary speech is his owner.
These speeches can only be reproduced
without his permission or that of his
representatives the Official Gazette
of the Chamber (Diario de las Sesiones)
of which he is a member and
in political newspapers.
Tanslations
Article 12.-If the translation
is first published in a foreign
country with which there is a
copyright convention, the terms of the treaty
shall regulate the controversies
which may arise. In case of controversies
to which the convention is silent,
this law shall apply.
Article 13.-The owners of
foreign works shall equally
enjoy their ownership in Spain,
subjected to laws of their
corresponding countries. Nevertheless
they will only enjoy the exclusive right of
translation
Chapter 1 Page 7
for the term of protection
given to original works in
the laws of their country.
Article 14.-The translator of
a work that entered the
public domain only have the property over
its translation and cannot
oppose the work being translated
again by others.
Article 15.-The rights given
in Spain by virtue of article 13
to the owners of foreign works
shall only apply to nations who
treat owners of Spanish works
with full reciprocity.
Legal Proceedings
Article 16.-All papers submitted
in legal proceedings shall belong
to the parties in whose name
they are presented.
However they shall not be able
to publish them without authorisation
from the trial court.
Permission shall be granted
after the decision had become
effective, when the court considers
the publication not likely to arouse
controversy and not prejudicial
to either party.
Lawyers who have written pleadings
and documents, may compile
Chapter 1 Page 8
them with the authorisation
of the trial court and
consent from the corresponding
party.
Article 17.-In order to be able
to publish copies or case extracts
from legal proceedings that
had concluded, it is required
the authorisation from the
trial court, that will grant
or refuse it at discretion,
without appeal.
Article 18.-When two or more people
request the authorisation,
the court may, depending on
the circumstances, accept one
and refuse the others,
establishing the terms and
conditions it may deem convenient.
Dramatic and musical works.
Article 19.-No dramatic or musical work
shall be performed in any
theatre or public space
whatsoever without the
owner's prior consent.
The effects of this article
shall be extended to all
performances made in societies
incorporated by any means
if a financial contribution
indeed existed.
Article 20.-The owners of dramatic
and musical works may freely
fixed the performing rights
Chapter 1 Page 9
when they give their authorisation.
However, if they do not fix them,
they may only claim what is specified
in the regulations.
Article 21.-No one may produce,
sell or rent any copy
of dramatic or musical works
not printed after their premiere,
without the owners' consent.
Article 22.-Unless otherwise stated,
the performing rights
of dramatico-musical works
will be divided in equal
shares between the owner
of the libretto and the
owner of the music.
Article 23.-The author of a libretto
or composition in music and performed
in public has the exclusive capacity
to separately print and sell the
literary output without the music.
The same applies to the composer,
who shall be able to do so in respect
to his musical part. If the author of
the libretto opposed the representation
of the work, the author of the music
may apply it to a new dramatic work.
Article 24.-Companies, associations
and individuals
Chapter 1 Page 10
that announce the performance
of a dramatic or musical work
changing its title, deleting,
altering or adding some of
its passages without the prior
author's consent shall
be considered to be a copyright
infringer.
Article 25.- The non-authorised
performance of a dramatic
or musical work in public
is punished with the penalties
established in the code and
with the lost of the profits from
the box office, that will be given
to the owner of the work performed.
Anonymous works.
Article 26.- Publishers of anonymous
and pseudonymous works shall enjoy
the same rights as the authors or
translators have in respect to their works,
as long as no evidence is produced
on the identity of the author or translator.
When this fact is proven, the author
or his assigns will substitute the
publisher in his rights.
Chapter 1 Page 11
Posthumous Works.
Article 27.- Posthumous works
are not only those unpublished
during the author's life
but also those published
during his life, if, upon his death,
he had left them rearranged,
annotated, added, or corrected
in such manner that they can be
considered new works.
If a controversy is raised
before the court, expert witnesses
will precede the decision.
Legislative Compilations.
Article 28.- Acts, decrees, royal orders,
regulations and the rest of
dispositions enacted by public
powers may be reproduced in
newspapers and in those works
that because of their nature and
character need to quote, comment,
criticise or copy them verbatim.
However, no one shall publish
them separately or in collection without
the explicit authorisation
from the government.
Newspapers.
Article 29.- Newspaper owners
who wish to secure their property
and assimilate it to literary productions
Chapter 1 Page 12
in order to enjoy the benefits
of this law,shall submit
three copies of their annual
collection of papers published
throughout that year to the
copyright registry.
Article 30.- The author or the translator
of works included or to be included
in newspapers or their assigns may
publish them in a selected or
comprehensive collection
of their writings, unless
otherwise agreed with the newspaper owner.
Article 31.- Writings and telegrams
published in newspapers can be
reproduced by by other newspapers
if the first company does not
explicitly state besides
the head title or
at the end of the news that
its reproduction is not allowed.
The original shall nevertheless
always be acknowledged.
Compilations.
Article 32.- The author or translator
of several scientific, literary
or artistic works can publish them
as a whole or separately in a collection.
Chapter 1 Page 13
even though he may have sold
them partially.
The author of speeches given
at the Royal Academies or
at any other institution,
can publish them in a collection
or separetely.
Scholars also enjoy the same
faculty in relation to their
essays written by permission
or commissioned by these Academies,
except those writings that belong
to these Academies as those devoted
to the special and continuing education
of the corresponding institute.
Registry
Article 33.- A general copyright Registry
shall be kept at the Ministry of Public Works.
Registers are also to be opened
in the provincial libraries, and,
in their absence, at high schools’
libraries in the capital of provinces.
In these registers, and in order
to get the protection afforded by this law,
scientific, literary, or artistic works
shall be indexed chronologically
Chapter 1 Page 25
In order to draft the copyright rules,
that will include Theatrical
Regulations, a Commission,
integrated by competent people,
shall be appointed.
And the Senate submits this law for
approval of Your Majesty,
Senate - Palace, 19 December 1878
President
Señor de Rubianes
Count of Casa-Galindo
Count of la Almina
[...]
To be published as law [Alfonso]
Palace, 23 December 1878
Chapter 1 Page 26
1878
Minister of Grace and Justice
[signed]
Fernando Calderón Collantes
Chapter 1 Page 27
[COAT OF ARMS]
Ministry of Grace
and Justice
Subsecretary
Section 1
Your Excellencies,
By order of Your Majesty
the King (q.D.g), I have the honour
to hand in Your Excellencies,
the attached original copy
of the copyright law, approved today,
in order to be dealt with
in the appropriate manner.
May God be with Your Excellencies
for many years, Madrid
23 December 1878
[signed]
Fernando Calderón Collantes
To the Deputies' secretaries at the Congress
Translation by: José Bellido