And here a word as to copyright in such documents in England, the law as
most recently laid down being established upon a set of sixteen of
Lamb's letters which unhappily are not (except in very brief abstract)
in the present edition. These letters, chiefly to Robert Lloyd, were
first published in _Charles Lamb and the Lloyds_, under my editorship,
in 1900, the right to make copies and publish them having been acquired
by Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. from Mrs. Steeds, a descendant of Charles
Lloyd. The originals were then purchased by Mr. J. M. Dent, who included
copies in his edition of Lamb's letters, under Mr. Macdonald's
editorship, in 1903. Meanwhile Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. had sold their
rights in the letters to Messrs. Macmillan for Canon Ainger's edition,
and when Mr. Dent's edition was issued Messrs. Macmillan with Messrs.
Smith, Elder & Co. brought an action. Mr. Dent thereupon acquired from
Mr. A. H. Moxon, the son of Emma Isola, Lamb's residuary legatee, all
his rights as representing the original author. The case was heard
before Mr. Justice Kekewich early in 1906. The judge held that "the
proprietor of the author's manuscript in the case of letters, as in the
case of any other manuscript, meant the owner of the actual paper on
which the matter was written, and that in the case of letters the
recipient was the owner. No doubt the writer could restrain the
recipient from publishing, and so could the writer's representatives
after death; but although they had the right to restrain others from
publishing, it did not follow that they had the right to publish and
acquire copyright. This right was given to the proprietor of the
manuscript, who, although he could be restrained from publishing by the
writer's personal representatives, yet, if not so restrained, could
publish and acquire copyright."

Mr. Dent appealed against this verdict and his appeal was heard on
October 31 and November 7, 1906, when the decision of Mr. Justice