The Statute of Anne, 1710

The Statute of Anne made authors the holders of rights and began modern copyright.

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BaroqueCopyrightPublic DomainMusic Publisher

In 1710 the English Parliament passed the Statute of Anne, which for the first time gave authors the right to copy printed works and set a limited term. Music publishing was drawn into the same rules, and modern copyright began here.

Time and place

London, 10 April 1710. The statute is usually named after Queen Anne. It replaced the controls that lapsed with the Licensing Act in 1695 and wrote registration, deposit and litigation into law. In 1777 Bach v. Longman confirmed that musical notation was a protected writing.

What happened

The statute gave authors of published books fourteen years, renewable for another fourteen; unpublished works were protected; copyright was registered at the Stationers' Company and copies deposited in libraries. It ended the London booksellers' monopoly and placed the author at the centre. Handel, Corelli and Vivaldi circulated through international publishers.

What changed

A work became property that could be sold, inherited and litigated, and stable contracts appeared. The limited term created a public domain, and publishers sought new works. Royalties, contracts and collective management grew over two centuries; public performance and mechanical rights followed.

Listen for the turn

These three works circulated through eighteenth-century publishing. Begin with Handel's Rinaldo, reprinted soon after its 1711 London premiere; then the Water Music in Walsh's edition; finally Corelli's Op. 6, published in Amsterdam in 1714.

Related

This turn belongs to Baroque and connects Copyright, Public Domain and Music Publisher.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "Copyright" — statute dates checked, not quoted
• Ronan Deazley, On the Origin of the Right to Copy (Hart, 2004) — Statute of Anne checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.