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The letters written by Philip Earl of Chesterfield to his son Philip Stanhope, having, at the death of the latter, come into the possession of his widow, were, by her, sold and assigned to Dodsley, bookseller in London; who, with consent of the Earl's executors, published them, and entered the work in the Stationers’ Hall. M'Farquhar, and others in Edinburgh, having soon afterwards printed an edition of this book, Dodsley, before its publication, applied to the Court of Session for an interdict against the Edinburgh printers. Urged in defence, 1mo, That the exclusive right given by the statute was merely personal to authors, and to those to whom they, during their lives, might assign their copy-right, and could not descend in the course of legal succession after their deaths; 2do, That this right could not, at any rate, extend to the editors of works which the authors themselves never intended to publish, such as private letters. The Court being of opinion, that the statute was entitled to a more liberal construction, granted the interdict.
