Starting with the lapse of the Licensing Act 1662 in 1695, this book then charts the history of copyright law throughout the eighteenth century, culminating in the House of Lords decision in Donaldson v Becket (1774).

Ronan Deazley is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Durham.

1. Politics, Propaganda and Profanity; Not Property
2. The Statute of Anne; A Miserable Havock
3. Scraps of Proceedings
4. Be Careful What You Wish For
5. The First: Copyright at Common Law? A "Complicated" Action
The Second: The Lawyers' Tales
6. Property and the Pamphleteers
7. Millar v Taylor; The Temporary Perpetual Triumph
8. Donaldson v Becket; A Game of Numbers
9. An Ending and a Beginning