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Danvila’s Copyright Treatise , Madrid (1882)
Source: Biblioteca Nacional de España, signature 1/77813
Citation:
Danvila’s Copyright Treatise , Madrid (1882), 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
11 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
COPYRIGHT
~~~~~~~~~~~
SPANISH AND FOREIGN LEGISLATION
COMMENTED, ANNOTATED AND EXPLAINED
ACCORDING TO HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, JURISPRUDENCE
AND INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
By Dr.
MANUEL DANVILA Y COLLADO
Lawyer from the Madrid, Valencia and Granada Bars;
Speaker at the General Codification Commission; Former Vicepresident
at the Congress of Deputies and honorary member at the Economic Society of Friends of
Society of Friends of Valencia and the Agriculture Association of Salamanca
FIRST EDITION
MADRID
IMPRENTA DE LA CORRESPONDENCIA DE ESPAÑA
Paseo de las Yeserias
1882
Translators' note: To avoid an unnecessary semantic confusion, "propiedad intelectual"
has been translated as "Copyright". For a genealogy of the term, see Hughes (2011)
Chapter 1 Page 2
INTRODUCTION.
What copyright has been, is, and ought to be in Spain (1)
A well-known thinker says that property, which is
intimately attached to man, to his personality and to his individual
and social destiny, should reflect every evolution of human life,
and the concepts of intelligence, religious beliefs and the
various sentiments that dominate men and transform
the life of the people, should be transparent in laws
concerning the organization of property.
And in effect, property is so inherent to the human
being that its existence has been a constant fact
since the primitive Ayras to us; including at least
the eventful age of the French Convention,
in spite of which their bold denials
managed to record it among man's
natural and imprescriptible rights.
This universal feeling makes it qualify
as an innate right, because nothing is
____________________
(1) This essay, which varies slightly in style, was published in
La Época newspaper on 14 and 17 October 1875. It was used
as a preamble for proposing a law that was put before the [Spanish] Congress
of Deputies. The author fully supports the integrity of the opinions stated
in these articles.
Chapter 1 Page 3
10
known as well as this secret instinct that we give to our
desired property, our works, and that impels us
to separate and recognize acts, and the desire for
the property of others. Lerminier said
that when property is considered subjectively, it includes
the powers that form his being; it is the aspect that
fulfills his personality; this way of considering property
in the individual is far from being a mistake; this
aspect resides in it; it is a force that searches for this right,
like looking for that freedom, that of safety. He
can discover his origin and independence of this right
with the same powers: owning the physical world
is the necessary development of freedom:
without property, pwoer would be nothing. Therefore
Savigni recognizes that man would not be free as
opposed to nature, if he did not have the right to dominate
it: this right, which is none other than the extension of
individual freedom over exterior objects, is what
constitutes property.
This notion is related to the general idea of rights,
presented initially as an element of dominance,
the perpetuity for which the man is considered to be
an arbitrator of his thoughts, capable of moderating
his desires, in command of his strength; he feels a love for
glory, he has the satisfaction of its virtues and the conscience
of his capacity; he triumphs over nature for it, and after
having dominated the land and ruled the waves,
he admits that not in vain is he called the king of creation.
Without this right, which ensures that man can own
his conquests, the concept of personality would be limited,
because he would not have known the attributes of his power.
The generic idea of property involves the idea of its perpetuity,
subject to the general laws of transfer,
Chapter 1 Page 4
11
and rejecting that of a temporary, incompatible existence
of the same nature.
When these general principles are assumed, it is
possible to examine the historical and rational facts of
copyright because legislators would not be worthy of their
name if they desperately resist the double impulse
of reason and history, which show them how to use
the power that society puts in ther hands.
Having finished that, nobody can reasonably defend
that the most characterized, most founded, most
irrefutable property, the first ever property, is no
other than a mere usufruct. How can we proclaim
this without destroying the grounds for any kind
of property! If the law has the power to
that the intellectual essence that is found on
a book does not belong to whoever painfully
wrote it, there is no possible defence for other
properties. You can start to understand this truth for
property, now that organic institutions are not considered,
and due to their origin, they are connected to men, to the
constitutive beginning of their, and to the laws pf their
social development. In a letter of 4 December 1843
addressed to Mr. Gobard, the director of the Brussels
Museum of Industry Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
wrote the following : “Like you, I believe that
an intellectual work is a property like an estate or
a house, which should enjoy the same rights, that cannot
be expropriated unless for public use".
Chapter 1 Page 5
12
I.
Possibly intellectual and physical atmospheres
incessantly surrounding the human being cannot
be appropriated, but land, literary and artistic works and
creations, which some commentators call real and
intellectual property, undoubtedly are [appropriable],
although the idea appears before the tangible facts that are
its legitimate consequence. Human intelligence has used
various forms to materialize the creations of the spirit,
and papyrus, stone, metal, and wood have only initially
served for a fragile verification of man's inspirations,
the reproduction of which is difficult to verify and that
constitute how useless it was to claim a right that nobody
was disputing. For this reason, neither in antiquity nor in
the Middle Ages were there any laws about artists' and
authors rights, even though book trading was very
important in Rome; Martial invented the word
plagiarist to define whoever reproduced
someone else's work; Virgil tried to defend himself from
them with sic vos non vobis. Suetonius
narrated during the lifetime of Tercentius that no work
was as expensive as the Eunuch of this author, which
confirms the habit of urban magistrates purchasing
comedies from their authors to entertain the people-king;
and that other examples could be reproduced as the
learned Nodier mentioned in his questions on
legal literature.
The same occurred in the era when all the nations began
to legislate on this matter. The invention of parchment,
the same with that of paper, although they solved
the problem of easy, cheap and stable reproductions
Chapter 1 Page 6
13
involves the doubt as to whether the work is the main
work and the copy is an accessory or vice versa. Justinian
solved this doubt in his Institutions. The discovery
of the press provoked, among its beneficial outcomes,
this clear and perceptible concept of copyright when the
fearful concept of privilege was born. Today it is the
subject of research of every thinker who studies it
from the point of view of morality and progress.
Unexpected creations of imagination and genius became
the essence of the modern world and when revolution
clashed with ideas, they followed another revolution
grounded in facts, as always happens in the wonderful
science of history. According to Vergara's felicitous
expression, in a delicate work bequeathed to us,
machines have enhanced the human body and scientists
have perfected the spirit; steam and the printing press
have made men cosmopolitan, erasing frontiers and
and building the pedestal of humanity.
Inventing the press and discovering America meant
a historical turning point for Spain, a moment in which
a great Queen, glory of the Motherland and the century,
heightened the Spanish throne, opening the way for a talent
that absurd concerns had uselessly denied for so many
centuries of ignorance. The pragmática given
in Toledo in 1480 (law 1, tit. 15. book. 8 Novísima Reco-
pilacion), satisfying the need to legislate work of spirit,
mentioned that "when considering kings of glorious memory,
it was beneficial and honourable that their kingdoms brought
in books from other territories, so that men could become
learned with them, they wanted and ordered books to be
exempted from taxes (alcabala). This exemption was extended
to import and export duties, tithes, tolls, and other rights.
So, in cities, towns and Crown properties, and also
Chapter 1 Page 7
14
segnorial homes and orders and plebeian lordships,
under a penalty, whoever acted to the contrary,
would commit and incur sentences for those that
request and carry forbidden impositions".
These and other exemptions were confirmed by the
Catholic Monarchs themselves in tax (alcabalas) laws 31
and 32 given on 10 December 1491 to the fertile plain
of Granada and another pragmática given
in Toledo on 8 July 1502 (law 1, tit. 16 id.), in which
printing and introducing books without a licence was -
prohibited. Regents and bishops were entrusted with this
task. It was ordered that any book printed and brought into
the kingdom without licence should be burned in the twon
square wherever they were found. Their owners had to pay
whatever the burnt books were worth and reimburse what
they have received from selling them.
Princess Juana of Castile reiterated the same prohibitions
on behalf of and due to the absence of Philip II,
on 7 September 1558. He did the same on 27 March 1569 and
in 1598. In Lerna in 1610, his sucessor, Philip III, prohibited
that, without a special licence, no books by Spanish authors
could be printed outside Spain. Any book printed in that way
could not be brought into the country either, under the penalty
of loosing the books , nature, honour nd dignity, and half of
their assets divided into thirds for the Chamber, judge and
plaintiff. On 22 December 1692, Charles II abolished any
jurisdictional privilege (fuero) for printers and book merchants
related to their trade. Only printing superintendents or their
subdelegated judges should know of these business
to avoid concealments or unnecesary conflict of competences.
In 1705, 1716, 1734 and 1752 Philip V and Ferdinand VI
Chapter 1 Page 8
15
passed several regulations focused on securing the
interests of the state rather than those of the authors.
Charles III reserved this glory, following the patriotic
advice from Jovellanos and Floridablanca. He was
a precursor who knew how to sow the good seed, which
produced such exceptional fruit by transforming the way
of life of Spanish society. He began on 14 October 1762,
by abolishing book fixed prices, because “freedom of trade is the Mother
of wealth”.
Nevertheless, educational and instructional books were exempted
since "they constituted an essential need". Shortly after this, and at
the Buen Retiro, he issued a royal order on 23 March
1763 for no one to be granted any exclusive privilege to print any
book whatsoever except the author who had written it.
According to this rule, if a secular or regular community applied for
a privilege, the appplication was consequently rejected. Furthermore, if a
dead hands' community (manos muertas) had a privilege already granted,
such privilege was to cease afterwards. Moreover,
as fine doctrinal developments made their way through
all these concerns, the Monarch promulgated the royal
order of 20 October 1764, the first Spanish law to
recognize copyright. Privileges granted to authors were
not supposed to be extinguished upon their death.
Their heirs could inherit them unless they were communities
or dead hands. They could continue with the privilege if
they applied for it, because of the attention deserved to thse authors,
who after having distinguished their motherland,
they left no heritage to their families other than the honest wealth
of their own works and the stimulus for imitating their good example.
Chapter 1 Page 9
16
Spanish literature still owes further gratitude to
Charles III , because under the ruling of 14 June 1768
and the Council by the Dispatch of 16 June of the same year, it was
ordered that authors would defend their works before the Inquisition
prior to their direct prohibition; that having died as a foreigner,
someone else would defend them on their behalf and while they were
being qualified, books could not be seized. Only the Holy Office
could deal with religious and moral matters. Another royal order
on 14 June 1778, and dispatch of the Council of 9 July of the same year,
not only confirmed and restated the resolutions of 22 March 1763
and 20 October 1764, they also ordered that the Royal Library,
Universities, Academies and Royal Societies should enjoy privileges for the
works written by their members jointly or especially when they had
published them alone, for the period of time these privileges
were granted to other authors. Although works of deceased or
foreign authors could be reprinted having collated them with
manuscripts, added to them or embellished them with notes
or new observations, they would not enjoy any exclusive privilege
in this case, in the same way that no one should enjoy privileges except
the author or inheritor. And number 3 stated that if the granted privilege
for any author had expired, and he or his heirs had not applied
for an extension within the following year, a licence could be granted
to anyone who applied for re-printing the book; and the same possibilty
would apply if, after granting the extension, this was not used within
a period proportional to whatever the Council indicated.
Therefore and because of this default, which indicated the abandonment
of ownership, the work would be at the government’s disposal, not allowing it to be
needed or for its price to increase if it were useful.
That was the state of the Spanish legislation on […]
Chapter 1 Page 10
36
copyright can be developed and confirmed by the
invention of the press and auxiliary arts that enrich the field of intelligence.
All the alarms voiced at the damaging consequences of copyright are fanciful
and the opposing and persistent resistance against the recognition
of copyright is a retrograde resistance, a resistance against which every moral
movement of legislations and sentiments is against.
The idea of copyright, which is badly defined and worse known,
begins to be appreciated by universal conscience. And after four centuries,
it is still growing and being clarified, and especially after the last century,
it develops with amazing speed. Everybody already admits that the matter
of perpetuity is a question of honour for copyright, even more than a question of interest
that seriously affects the strength of territorial property, which darkens the idea itself
of property rights and exposes it to the most interested parties' recognition of the luminous
beacon of justice.
Therefore, undoubtedly copyright is a common property and it does not require
anything more than the general system of law for its existence. It is easy to understand
then that its constitution should be the object of the above mentioned (general) law and
of a regulation that specifies the ways to enforce it. To this effect, the following two resolutions
should be taken: the establishment of a copyright office (registry) and its applicable tax. In order to
reconcile authors' rights with the right that society might have for spreading useful knowledge,
and what the progress of the science undoubtedly demands, it should also be specified
an obligation for every author
Chapter 1 Page 11
37
to always have copies which they own available to the public,
and the right for private individuals, the State, and scientific corporations
to re-print and alienate what had been abandoned for a limited time
knowing the consequences. This could be the practical solution to
reconcile the social and the private interest and that redeems copyright
of the unjust yoke that fits so badly with the progressive march of humanity.
The intellectual work is the product of the work of the spirit; raising it,
enriching it, that will raise and enhance human personality,
the seed of redemption of unfortunate people. This is how,
due to its admirable harmony, the work that is a holy law for man,
also tends to be the source of his most valued rights and
the safest guarantee of his happiness.
---------------
Translation by: Kay Leach
Source: Biblioteca Nacional de España, signature 1/77813
Citation:
Danvila’s Copyright Treatise , Madrid (1882), 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
11 translated pages
Chapter 1 Page 1
COPYRIGHT
~~~~~~~~~~~
SPANISH AND FOREIGN LEGISLATION
COMMENTED, ANNOTATED AND EXPLAINED
ACCORDING TO HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, JURISPRUDENCE
AND INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
By Dr.
MANUEL DANVILA Y COLLADO
Lawyer from the Madrid, Valencia and Granada Bars;
Speaker at the General Codification Commission; Former Vicepresident
at the Congress of Deputies and honorary member at the Economic Society of Friends of
Society of Friends of Valencia and the Agriculture Association of Salamanca
FIRST EDITION
MADRID
IMPRENTA DE LA CORRESPONDENCIA DE ESPAÑA
Paseo de las Yeserias
1882
Translators' note: To avoid an unnecessary semantic confusion, "propiedad intelectual"
has been translated as "Copyright". For a genealogy of the term, see Hughes (2011)
Chapter 1 Page 2
INTRODUCTION.
What copyright has been, is, and ought to be in Spain (1)
A well-known thinker says that property, which is
intimately attached to man, to his personality and to his individual
and social destiny, should reflect every evolution of human life,
and the concepts of intelligence, religious beliefs and the
various sentiments that dominate men and transform
the life of the people, should be transparent in laws
concerning the organization of property.
And in effect, property is so inherent to the human
being that its existence has been a constant fact
since the primitive Ayras to us; including at least
the eventful age of the French Convention,
in spite of which their bold denials
managed to record it among man's
natural and imprescriptible rights.
This universal feeling makes it qualify
as an innate right, because nothing is
____________________
(1) This essay, which varies slightly in style, was published in
La Época newspaper on 14 and 17 October 1875. It was used
as a preamble for proposing a law that was put before the [Spanish] Congress
of Deputies. The author fully supports the integrity of the opinions stated
in these articles.
Chapter 1 Page 3
10
known as well as this secret instinct that we give to our
desired property, our works, and that impels us
to separate and recognize acts, and the desire for
the property of others. Lerminier said
that when property is considered subjectively, it includes
the powers that form his being; it is the aspect that
fulfills his personality; this way of considering property
in the individual is far from being a mistake; this
aspect resides in it; it is a force that searches for this right,
like looking for that freedom, that of safety. He
can discover his origin and independence of this right
with the same powers: owning the physical world
is the necessary development of freedom:
without property, pwoer would be nothing. Therefore
Savigni recognizes that man would not be free as
opposed to nature, if he did not have the right to dominate
it: this right, which is none other than the extension of
individual freedom over exterior objects, is what
constitutes property.
This notion is related to the general idea of rights,
presented initially as an element of dominance,
the perpetuity for which the man is considered to be
an arbitrator of his thoughts, capable of moderating
his desires, in command of his strength; he feels a love for
glory, he has the satisfaction of its virtues and the conscience
of his capacity; he triumphs over nature for it, and after
having dominated the land and ruled the waves,
he admits that not in vain is he called the king of creation.
Without this right, which ensures that man can own
his conquests, the concept of personality would be limited,
because he would not have known the attributes of his power.
The generic idea of property involves the idea of its perpetuity,
subject to the general laws of transfer,
Chapter 1 Page 4
11
and rejecting that of a temporary, incompatible existence
of the same nature.
When these general principles are assumed, it is
possible to examine the historical and rational facts of
copyright because legislators would not be worthy of their
name if they desperately resist the double impulse
of reason and history, which show them how to use
the power that society puts in ther hands.
Having finished that, nobody can reasonably defend
that the most characterized, most founded, most
irrefutable property, the first ever property, is no
other than a mere usufruct. How can we proclaim
this without destroying the grounds for any kind
of property! If the law has the power to
that the intellectual essence that is found on
a book does not belong to whoever painfully
wrote it, there is no possible defence for other
properties. You can start to understand this truth for
property, now that organic institutions are not considered,
and due to their origin, they are connected to men, to the
constitutive beginning of their, and to the laws pf their
social development. In a letter of 4 December 1843
addressed to Mr. Gobard, the director of the Brussels
Museum of Industry Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
wrote the following : “Like you, I believe that
an intellectual work is a property like an estate or
a house, which should enjoy the same rights, that cannot
be expropriated unless for public use".
Chapter 1 Page 5
12
I.
Possibly intellectual and physical atmospheres
incessantly surrounding the human being cannot
be appropriated, but land, literary and artistic works and
creations, which some commentators call real and
intellectual property, undoubtedly are [appropriable],
although the idea appears before the tangible facts that are
its legitimate consequence. Human intelligence has used
various forms to materialize the creations of the spirit,
and papyrus, stone, metal, and wood have only initially
served for a fragile verification of man's inspirations,
the reproduction of which is difficult to verify and that
constitute how useless it was to claim a right that nobody
was disputing. For this reason, neither in antiquity nor in
the Middle Ages were there any laws about artists' and
authors rights, even though book trading was very
important in Rome; Martial invented the word
plagiarist to define whoever reproduced
someone else's work; Virgil tried to defend himself from
them with sic vos non vobis. Suetonius
narrated during the lifetime of Tercentius that no work
was as expensive as the Eunuch of this author, which
confirms the habit of urban magistrates purchasing
comedies from their authors to entertain the people-king;
and that other examples could be reproduced as the
learned Nodier mentioned in his questions on
legal literature.
The same occurred in the era when all the nations began
to legislate on this matter. The invention of parchment,
the same with that of paper, although they solved
the problem of easy, cheap and stable reproductions
Chapter 1 Page 6
13
involves the doubt as to whether the work is the main
work and the copy is an accessory or vice versa. Justinian
solved this doubt in his Institutions. The discovery
of the press provoked, among its beneficial outcomes,
this clear and perceptible concept of copyright when the
fearful concept of privilege was born. Today it is the
subject of research of every thinker who studies it
from the point of view of morality and progress.
Unexpected creations of imagination and genius became
the essence of the modern world and when revolution
clashed with ideas, they followed another revolution
grounded in facts, as always happens in the wonderful
science of history. According to Vergara's felicitous
expression, in a delicate work bequeathed to us,
machines have enhanced the human body and scientists
have perfected the spirit; steam and the printing press
have made men cosmopolitan, erasing frontiers and
and building the pedestal of humanity.
Inventing the press and discovering America meant
a historical turning point for Spain, a moment in which
a great Queen, glory of the Motherland and the century,
heightened the Spanish throne, opening the way for a talent
that absurd concerns had uselessly denied for so many
centuries of ignorance. The pragmática given
in Toledo in 1480 (law 1, tit. 15. book. 8 Novísima Reco-
pilacion), satisfying the need to legislate work of spirit,
mentioned that "when considering kings of glorious memory,
it was beneficial and honourable that their kingdoms brought
in books from other territories, so that men could become
learned with them, they wanted and ordered books to be
exempted from taxes (alcabala). This exemption was extended
to import and export duties, tithes, tolls, and other rights.
So, in cities, towns and Crown properties, and also
Chapter 1 Page 7
14
segnorial homes and orders and plebeian lordships,
under a penalty, whoever acted to the contrary,
would commit and incur sentences for those that
request and carry forbidden impositions".
These and other exemptions were confirmed by the
Catholic Monarchs themselves in tax (alcabalas) laws 31
and 32 given on 10 December 1491 to the fertile plain
of Granada and another pragmática given
in Toledo on 8 July 1502 (law 1, tit. 16 id.), in which
printing and introducing books without a licence was -
prohibited. Regents and bishops were entrusted with this
task. It was ordered that any book printed and brought into
the kingdom without licence should be burned in the twon
square wherever they were found. Their owners had to pay
whatever the burnt books were worth and reimburse what
they have received from selling them.
Princess Juana of Castile reiterated the same prohibitions
on behalf of and due to the absence of Philip II,
on 7 September 1558. He did the same on 27 March 1569 and
in 1598. In Lerna in 1610, his sucessor, Philip III, prohibited
that, without a special licence, no books by Spanish authors
could be printed outside Spain. Any book printed in that way
could not be brought into the country either, under the penalty
of loosing the books , nature, honour nd dignity, and half of
their assets divided into thirds for the Chamber, judge and
plaintiff. On 22 December 1692, Charles II abolished any
jurisdictional privilege (fuero) for printers and book merchants
related to their trade. Only printing superintendents or their
subdelegated judges should know of these business
to avoid concealments or unnecesary conflict of competences.
In 1705, 1716, 1734 and 1752 Philip V and Ferdinand VI
Chapter 1 Page 8
15
passed several regulations focused on securing the
interests of the state rather than those of the authors.
Charles III reserved this glory, following the patriotic
advice from Jovellanos and Floridablanca. He was
a precursor who knew how to sow the good seed, which
produced such exceptional fruit by transforming the way
of life of Spanish society. He began on 14 October 1762,
by abolishing book fixed prices, because “freedom of trade is the Mother
of wealth”.
Nevertheless, educational and instructional books were exempted
since "they constituted an essential need". Shortly after this, and at
the Buen Retiro, he issued a royal order on 23 March
1763 for no one to be granted any exclusive privilege to print any
book whatsoever except the author who had written it.
According to this rule, if a secular or regular community applied for
a privilege, the appplication was consequently rejected. Furthermore, if a
dead hands' community (manos muertas) had a privilege already granted,
such privilege was to cease afterwards. Moreover,
as fine doctrinal developments made their way through
all these concerns, the Monarch promulgated the royal
order of 20 October 1764, the first Spanish law to
recognize copyright. Privileges granted to authors were
not supposed to be extinguished upon their death.
Their heirs could inherit them unless they were communities
or dead hands. They could continue with the privilege if
they applied for it, because of the attention deserved to thse authors,
who after having distinguished their motherland,
they left no heritage to their families other than the honest wealth
of their own works and the stimulus for imitating their good example.
Chapter 1 Page 9
16
Spanish literature still owes further gratitude to
Charles III , because under the ruling of 14 June 1768
and the Council by the Dispatch of 16 June of the same year, it was
ordered that authors would defend their works before the Inquisition
prior to their direct prohibition; that having died as a foreigner,
someone else would defend them on their behalf and while they were
being qualified, books could not be seized. Only the Holy Office
could deal with religious and moral matters. Another royal order
on 14 June 1778, and dispatch of the Council of 9 July of the same year,
not only confirmed and restated the resolutions of 22 March 1763
and 20 October 1764, they also ordered that the Royal Library,
Universities, Academies and Royal Societies should enjoy privileges for the
works written by their members jointly or especially when they had
published them alone, for the period of time these privileges
were granted to other authors. Although works of deceased or
foreign authors could be reprinted having collated them with
manuscripts, added to them or embellished them with notes
or new observations, they would not enjoy any exclusive privilege
in this case, in the same way that no one should enjoy privileges except
the author or inheritor. And number 3 stated that if the granted privilege
for any author had expired, and he or his heirs had not applied
for an extension within the following year, a licence could be granted
to anyone who applied for re-printing the book; and the same possibilty
would apply if, after granting the extension, this was not used within
a period proportional to whatever the Council indicated.
Therefore and because of this default, which indicated the abandonment
of ownership, the work would be at the government’s disposal, not allowing it to be
needed or for its price to increase if it were useful.
That was the state of the Spanish legislation on […]
Chapter 1 Page 10
36
copyright can be developed and confirmed by the
invention of the press and auxiliary arts that enrich the field of intelligence.
All the alarms voiced at the damaging consequences of copyright are fanciful
and the opposing and persistent resistance against the recognition
of copyright is a retrograde resistance, a resistance against which every moral
movement of legislations and sentiments is against.
The idea of copyright, which is badly defined and worse known,
begins to be appreciated by universal conscience. And after four centuries,
it is still growing and being clarified, and especially after the last century,
it develops with amazing speed. Everybody already admits that the matter
of perpetuity is a question of honour for copyright, even more than a question of interest
that seriously affects the strength of territorial property, which darkens the idea itself
of property rights and exposes it to the most interested parties' recognition of the luminous
beacon of justice.
Therefore, undoubtedly copyright is a common property and it does not require
anything more than the general system of law for its existence. It is easy to understand
then that its constitution should be the object of the above mentioned (general) law and
of a regulation that specifies the ways to enforce it. To this effect, the following two resolutions
should be taken: the establishment of a copyright office (registry) and its applicable tax. In order to
reconcile authors' rights with the right that society might have for spreading useful knowledge,
and what the progress of the science undoubtedly demands, it should also be specified
an obligation for every author
Chapter 1 Page 11
37
to always have copies which they own available to the public,
and the right for private individuals, the State, and scientific corporations
to re-print and alienate what had been abandoned for a limited time
knowing the consequences. This could be the practical solution to
reconcile the social and the private interest and that redeems copyright
of the unjust yoke that fits so badly with the progressive march of humanity.
The intellectual work is the product of the work of the spirit; raising it,
enriching it, that will raise and enhance human personality,
the seed of redemption of unfortunate people. This is how,
due to its admirable harmony, the work that is a holy law for man,
also tends to be the source of his most valued rights and
the safest guarantee of his happiness.
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Translation by: Kay Leach