1882 Mark Twain's Visit to Canada

From The NATION dated January 5th 1882

MARK TWAIN’S VISIT TO CANADA.

ACCORDING to a dispatch from Ottawa, published on Thursday, there has been some” fearful blundering” over the interpretation of the Canadian copyright law within the past few weeks, and no one has blundered more than Mark Twain, who made a trip there in search of a copyright for a new book which he is bringing out. As a humorist Mark Twain must enjoy the account given of his attempts to get protection for his property, though as literary man he may wish that the law of the subject was in a condition which would make the security greater and the fun less uproarious. He had, it seems, in the first instance, obtained an English copyright, which only requires first publication in England, and this copyright might naturally be supposed to to all the British possessions. Such, however, is by no means the case, for though by the laws of Canada the book cannot be in the Dominion, foreign reprints it may be imported into Canada on payment of a royalty or duty. To protect his property against this a Canadian copyright is necessary, but a Canadian copyright cannot be obtained unless the author is domiciled Canada.

Now, the meaning of domicile, though the word is of Latin origin, is extremely simple. It means living in a place; and we all know that Mark Twain does not live in Canada. But, to alter slightly the sentiment once expressed by an eminent judge, if a man may ever be pardoned for quibbling about anything, he may be for quibbling to save his property. The proprietor of a copyright is so surrounded with enemies eager to waylay him and rob him that he may fairly resort to any shift that the most ingenious technicality can devise. So Mark Twain appears to have thought, for on discovering that it was necessary for him to have a Canadian domicile to get a Canadian copyright, he immediately stated that he had what he called an “elective domicile” in Canada. The only kind of elective domicile which is known in this country is the domicile which voters sometimes suddenly choose immediately before election for the purpose of casting their ballots, with the full intention of returning to what the lawyers call their domicile of origin as soon as they have cast them. But in Canada there is said to be a funny kind of domicile, unknown to our law, consisting of “an address or place where it has been agreed that delivery will be accepted.” The Department of Agriculture, however, which for some reason best known to the Canadian Government has charge of matters connected with literary property, decided that Mark Twain’s elective domicile was all moonshine, and that if he wished to get a Canadian copyright he must actually live in Canada. Few authors wish to do this, and so we presume Mark Twain has come home a sadder and wiser man.

He has the satisfaction of knowing, that if he has not succeeded in the object of his trip, lie has at least brought to the attention of the world a new and amusing feature of the copyright problem. Canada is a country which, as regards copyright, is a good deal in the position occupied by the United States fifty years ago—that is, it produces few authors but a good many publishers. What these publishers want is protection, not for authors, but for themselves; and, according to the dispatch already quoted, the Canadian Publishers’ Association “is now moving in the direction of petitioning the Imperial Government for absolute power for the Dominion Parliament over copyright laws.” The British Government has given Mr. West power as-Commissioner to negotiate with our Government at Washington as to the proposed international treaty, and he has been instructed also to confer with the Canadian Government, and obtain such assistance as will ensure the protection of the “interests of Canada” in the event of an international copyright treaty being arranged between Great Britain and the United States. The “interests of Canada” mean the interests of the Canadian publishers; and it is highly important, whatever view we may take of their interests, that, in the consideration of the proposed copyright treaty, the relation of Canada to the contracting parties should be taken into the account.