The Question of Copyright.

Among the original powers granted to Congress by the U.S. Constitution was the power "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." In the century following ratification of the Constitution, hundreds of state and federal statutes defined and revised the terms and scope of copyright protection. By the late nineteenth century literary copyright ranked among the most hotly debated of legal issues. The question of international copyright —the rights of "alien" authors in America and American authors abroad—sparked controversy.

Legalized Piracy.

Throughout the better part of the nineteenth century, no copyright provisions existed to protect foreign material. The legal loophole allowed American publishers to republish foreign fiction without paying royalties, so it was cheaper for American houses to publish...