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Some Historical Matter Concerning Literary Property, Edward S. Rogers

Michigan Law Review

The notion of property in published literary works was of gradual development. One may search in vain through classical literature and Roman law to find anything in the nature of copyright. Hearty condemnation of plagiarism is to be found. Stealing another man's labor and passing it off as one's own was a literary crime, but neither that nor open piracy seems to have been a matter of which the law took cognizance. Before the invention of printing, making manuscript copies of a book was such a laborious and time-consuming task that an ancient author must have felt sufficiently repaid if …