The Booksellers's Bill was a 1774

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

introduced into the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

in the wake of the important

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

case of '' Donaldson v. Beckett''. In ''Donaldson'' a perpetual

common law copyright Common law copyright is the legal doctrine that grants copyright protection based on common law of various jurisdictions, rather than through protection of statutory law. In part, it is based on the contention that copyright is a natural right an ...

was denied to booksellers and it was held that copyright was a creation of

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

and could be limited in its

duration Duration may refer to: * The amount of time elapsed between two events * Duration (music) – an amount of time or a particular time interval, often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music * Duration (philosophy) – a theory of time and ...

. As a result, booksellers sought to have the duration of their copyright extended to 14 years. Under UK parliamentary procedure, the bill passed the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

but was defeated in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

and never became an

act of parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

Bibliography

External links

*{{cite web, title=Booksellers' Bill (1774) , work=Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) , editor=Bently, L. , editor2=Kretschmer, M. , url=http://www.copyrighthistory.org/cgi-bin/kleioc/0010/exec/ausgabe/%22uk_1774d%22 , publisher=Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law , accessdate=2008-11-25 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725195458/http://www.copyrighthistory.org/cgi-bin/kleioc/0010/exec/ausgabe/%22uk_1774d%22 , archivedate=2011-07-25 1774 in British law Legal history of England Political history of England Copyright legislation Proposed laws of the United Kingdom