Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to John Richardson, [September? 1813]
“I have owed you a letter this long time, but
perhaps my debt might not yet be discharged, had I not a little matter of
business to trouble you with. I wish you to lay before either the King’s
counsel, or Sir Samuel Romilly and any
other you may approve, the point whether a copyright, being sold for the term
during which Queen Anne’s act warranted the property
to the author, the price is liable in payment of the property tax. I contend it
is not so liable, for the following reasons:—1st, It is a patent right,
expected to produce an annual, or at least an incidental profit, during the
currency of many years; and surely it was never contended that if a man sold a
theatrical patent, or a patent for ![]()
| TAXATION OF LITERARY INCOME. | 107 |
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machinery, property tax should be levied
in the first place on the full price as paid to the seller, and then on the
profits as purchased by the buyer. I am not very expert at figures, but I think
it clear that a double taxation takes place. 2d, It should be considered that a
book may be the work not of one year, but of a man’s whole life; and as
it has been found, in a late case of the Duke of
Gordon, that a fall of timber was not subject to property tax
because it comprehended the produce of thirty years, it seems at least equally
fair that mental exertions should not be subjected to a harder principle of
measurement. 3d, The demand is, so far as I can learn, totally new and unheard
of. 4th, Supposing that I died and left my manuscripts to be sold publicly
along with the rest of my library, is there any ground for taxing what might be
received for the written book, any more than any rare printed book which a
speculative bookseller might purchase with a view to re-publication? You will
know whether any of these things ought to be suggested in the brief. David Hume, and every lawyer here whom I have
spoken to, consider the demand as illegal. Believe me truly yours,
David Hume (1757-1838)
The nephew of the philosopher; he was educated at University of Edinburgh and Glasgow
University and was a member of the Speculative Society, professor of Scots law in the
University of Edinburgh, and baron of the exchequer. He contributed to
The Mirror and
The Lounger.
John Richardson of Kirklands (1780-1864)
Scottish lawyer and parliamentary solicitor in London from 1806; he was Thomas Campbell's
legal advisor and a friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818)
Reformer of the penal code and the author of
Thoughts on Executive
Justice (1786); he was a Whig MP and Solicitor-General who died a suicide.
