Scottish Copyright Before the Statute of 1710

Abstract

The copyright law of the United Kingdom has long been seen as originating from statutory copyright commencing in 1710. However, Scottish copyright, a topic almost ignored by historians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was a distinct entity long before and developed in quite different directions to English copyright. This article shows that early modern Scottish publishers, printers, authors, lawyers and their courts were familiar with the concepts of literary property and ironically it was Scotland's copyright tradition, and not that of England, which set out on a fortuitous path of preparation towards the Statute of 1710.