Special Provisions as to certain Works. 123
words, and to oonstruo it as if it had been enacted that § 17. a bequest of the author s manuscript should be deemed to pass any copyright therein then subsisting and the property of the a.uthor.
18. Without prejudice to any rights or privi- Provisions as leges of the Crown, where any work has, whether mentpubii- before or after the commencement of this Act [g), been prepared or published (//) by or under the direction or control of his Majesty or any Govern- ment department, the copyright (/) in the work shall, subject to any agreement with the author, belong to his Majesty, and in such case shall continue for a period of fifty years from the date of the first publication (h) of the work.
When the Crown ceased to have the complete control Royal which it originally exercised over the printing press, it prerogative. still claimed to retain as its prerogative the exclusive right of printing such works as it considered its own peculiar property (fe) . Those included the authorised translation of the Bible, the Common Prayer Book, Acts of Parlia- ment (/;, and proclamations (?w) . The Stationers' Com- pany, the King's printers, the universities, and from time to time various individuals rcoeiv<}d grants of authority to print such works.
As regards the Bible and Prayer Book, the Universi- Bible and ties of Oxford and Cambridge and the King's printer Prayer Book, hold a grant from the Crown, and their legal right to print and to prevent others from printing these books is fully established (w). The Crown, however, and its
{g) Sect. 37.
[h) Sects. 1 (3), 35 (2).
(i) Sect. 1.
(A-) See Ilillar v. Tayhr (1769), 4 Bun-. 2329.
\l) Baskett v. Universifi/ of Cambridge (1758), 2 Burr. 661 ; Baskett v. Cnnningham (1762), Black! 370.
(;») 'Grier.-<oH v. Jackson (1794), Ridg. Ir. T. R. 304; Nicol v. Stockdale (1785), 3 Swanst. 687.
(«) Universities V. Richardson (1802), 1 Yes. 689 ; Manners y. Blair (1828), 3 Bligh (N. S.), 391 ; Manners v. Kinq's Printer (1826), 2 State Trials (N. S.), 215; Grierson v. Jackson (1794), Ridg. Ir. T. R. 304; Eyre v. Carnan (1781), 6 Bac. Abr. 509; The Red Letter New Testament, In re (1900), 17 T. L. R. 1.
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