greater number of the countries which are parties to the Berne Convention. Convinced that formalities of this nature are merely a vexatious hindrance to the enforcement of the author's rights, and recognising that with the term of copyright fixed by reference to the date of the author's death, neither registration nor marking is necessary for notifying the period of its expiry, they have in most cases abolished these formalities altogether. The Berne Convention, so long ago as '1887, made a serious inroad upon their vitality by providing that an author should be bound to comply only with the formalities (if any) of his own country; the revised Convention goes further, and exempts an author seeking to enforce his rights abroad from compliance even with the formalities of his own country. It may be pointed out that, the United Kingdom being almost the only country in the Union with an onerous system of formalities, this amendment in the revised Convention constitutes a valuable measure of relief to British authors.

The proposals in the Copyright Bill for a voluntary registration are clearly a compromise. It may be regretted perhaps that the Government did not see their way to abolish formalities altogether; but, if nothing more can be got, the suggested system may be gratefully accepted as a vast improvement on the present state of things; and, if registration were made to include notification to the Customs, both in the United Kingdom and the Colonies, a considerable boon would be conferred on owners of copyright.

The rudely-jointed structure of the existing law contains many gaps and crevices in which the author's rights are found to be defective. Thus, to mention only a few flagrant instances, there is at present little or no protection against abridgements of larger works for popular purposes. Again, it is open to any one to dramatise a copyright novel, provided that he refrains from transferring the actual words. It is doubtful whether the author can claim to control the translation of his work into another language, if the translation be published in the British dominions. The sculptor cannot forbid the unauthorised photographing of his work, or the artist the reproduction of his painting in the form of 'living

pictures. Moreover, the progress of invention has opened up new methods of appropriating the fruits of the author's labour which the rigid phraseology of the existing statutes could not have been expected to cover; music can be placed on pianola rolls, songs on gramophone records, scenes in a play on cinematograph films, without any obligation to consult or remunerate the dramatist or the composer.

The Copyright Bill appears to remedy most of these defects in a satisfactory way, and in general recognises the principle that, subject to the legitimate interests of the public, the author is entitled to control any use which it is possible to make of his work, both in order to share in the pecuniary profits, and in order to secure his work against improper treatment. The Bill further extends the protection of copyright to new classes of productions, among which mention may be made of works of architecture and records for mechanical musical instruments, such as gramophones and pianolas. The inclusion of architecture has given rise to some criticism, mainly on the ground of its alleged impracticability; but the protection of architecture against the reproduction of artistic features or design in another building has been found to work well in France and Germany. As a matter of fact, the Bill on this point seems to err on the side of caution, for it limits the remedies of the architect to an action for damages against the actual infringer. The protection of records would appear to be a kind of compensation to manufacturers for the loss of the unrestricted right which they have hitherto enjoyed to appropriate what music they please. But the proper way to deal with these records is to grant the copyright in them to the singer or performer, whose rendering is the basis of their production. This rendering, formerly evanescent, is now made permanent in the record, which stands to it in the same relation in which the concrete production, the book, the painting, the piece of sculpture, or whatever it may be, stands to the author's conception; the manufacturer's part may doubtless require a high degree of skill, as also does the printer's, but it is not a proper subject of copyright. The Bill proposes the general application of the summary remedies which have proved effectual in the case of pirated music; this extension is well-timed, for

the music pirates,' driven from their original sphere of activity, have recently turned their attention to literature.

Finally, the Bill introduces far-reaching changes in the conditions which entitle to copyright-conditions, that is, of nationality, residence and first publication. The conditions required by the existing law are frequently obscure, and vary for no apparent reason in the case of different classes of works. To mention only the two chief cases-for books the nationality of the author is of no importance, nor probably is his place of residence, but it is essential that the book should not be published elsewhere before it is published within the British Empire; for paintings, drawings and photographs, what is necessary is that the author should be either a British subject or resident within His Majesty's dominions.

A frank recognition of the author's inherent right of property in his work would lead logically to the conclusion that no such conditions of nationality, residence or first publication should be required; but it has generally been thought expedient to impose them in order to retain a weapon for the negotiation of reciprocal treatment from foreign countries. The Copyright Bill is no exception to this rule; it provides that, in order to be entitled to copyright, an author must, at the time of the making of the work, be a British subject, or resident within the parts of the Empire to which the Act extends; moreover, the copyright thus acquired will be forfeited if the work is first published, i.e. if copies are issued to the public, elsewhere than in those parts of the Empire. By the issue of Orders in Council, subject to reciprocal treatment, any foreign country may be assimilated to the British Empire for the purposes of nationality, residence or first publication.

It may be expected that Orders in Council would be issued as a matter of course in regard to all the countries of the Berne Copyright Union. But there is another country, of very great importance to British authors, with respect to which the position is not so clear. We refer, of course, to the United States. At present, authors who are American citizens obtain copyright in this country by virtue of the general provisions of the British law; while American citizens, though their Government holds aloof from the Berne Convention, can now obtain

the full privileges of that agreement by publishing in this country. In return for these concessions, British authors are admitted to the benefits of the United States law by Presidential proclamation. After the coming into force of the new Act it would be impossible for a nonresident American citizen to obtain copyright in this country, unless an Order in Council were issued to cover his case; on the other hand, the Presidential proclamation would doubtless be withdrawn unless reciprocal privileges were granted to American citizens. Now it is notorious that the manufacturing requirements of the American law, already very unfair, have been rendered more stringent by the Act of 1909; so that now not only the type-setting and printing of books, but also the binding, have to be done in the United States, in order to secure copyright. Moreover, this requirement applies only to books in the English language, and not to those in other languages, and therefore amounts to a direct discrimination against this country. The position will be a delicate one, owing to the importance of the American market to British authors; but it is difficult to see how a continuance of the present state of affairs could be regarded as amounting to reciprocity, and it is to be hoped that the authorities will take advantage of the new Act to secure some relaxation of the onerous requirements of the American law before extending the benefits of British copyright to American citizens.

Such are the more important provisions in the Copyright Bill. Those who are familiar with the past vicissitudes of the question will find it almost too much to hope that a substantial amendment of the law will at last be effected. But the moment is an exceptional one. The omens are all favourable. A spirit of loyal co-operation among those who are most intimately concerned will go far towards securing a successful issue; and authors, for their part, will be well advised not to put their charter in jeopardy by captious criticism.

Art. 9.-CONSERVATISM.

THE two-party system in this country has achieved a large measure of success because it corresponds to certain real facts of human nature. Broadly speaking, political Man is moved by two opposite tendencies. He both fears and desires change. To one individual the dangers of the unknown future, to another the evils of the too wellknown present, are the governing consideration; and so it happens that one set of men form a party of progress, while the others become a party of stability. Two such parties have always existed in England. It is quite true that, until the end of the eighteenth century, partydivisions were neither so rigid nor so logical as they afterwards became. Sometimes it was the Whigs and sometimes it was the Tories who stood for change, since the dominant political considerations were still religious and dynastic. Even so the ideas of order and revolution, of stability and progress, were each represented in the governing forces of the country. Later, as representative institutions developed, and the political issues became more and more industrial and social, the Whigs permanently allied themselves with those sections of the people who wanted Reform, first of Parliament and then of other parts of our institutions; while the Tories became identified with those who believed that the evils of the proposed changes would be greater than any good that they might accomplish. It was to mark this new departure that the present party names were invented. The Whigs became first Liberals and then Radicals. The Tories became Conservatives.

The new Tory name would have been meaningless unless it denoted a definite attitude towards political affairs. Conservatism does not indeed mean satisfaction with the present condition of society or the present distribution of wealth. Still less does it mean indifference to the sufferings of the poor so long as the rich are secured in possession of their property. It does not even mean stagnation. But it does mean great distrust of the beneficial powers of legislation, and a profound conviction that legislative change always does some harm and often does little or no good. To the