II. If the author had such right originally, did the law take it away, upon his printing and publishing such book or literary composition; and might any person afterward reprint and sell, for his own benefit, such book or literary composition against the will of the author? No, 7 to 4. III. If such action would have lain at common law, is it taken away by the statute of 8th Anne? And is an author, by the said statute, precluded from every remedy, except on the foundation of the said statute and on the terms and conditions prescribed thereby? Yes, 6 to 5. IV. Whether the author of any literary composition and his assigns had the sole right of printing and publishing the same in perpetuity, by the common law? Yes, 7 to 4. V. Whether this right is any way impeached, restrained, or taken away by the statute of 8th Anne? Yes, 6 to 5. Footnote 1: The votes on these decisions are given differently in the several copyright authorities. These figures are corrected from 4 Burrow's Reports, 2408, the leading English parliamentary reports, and are probably right. {Sidenote: The Lords' decision} These opinions, that there was perpetual copyright at common law, which was not lost by publication, but that the statute of Anne took away that right and confined remedies to the statutory provisions, were directly contrary to the previous decrees of the courts, and on a motion seconded by the Lord Chancellor, the House of Lords, 22 to 11, reversed the decree in the case at issue. This construction by the Lords, in the case of Donaldson _v._ Becket, of the statute of Anne, has practically "laid down the law" for England and America ever since. {Sidenote: Protests} Two protests against this action deserve note. The first, that of the universities, was met by an act of 1775, which granted to the English and Scotch universities (to which Dublin was added in 1801), and to the colleges of Eton, Westminster and Winchester, perpetual copyright in works bequeathed to and printed by them. The other, that of the booksellers, presented to the Commons February 28, 1774, set forth that the petitioners had invested large sums in the belief of perpetuity of copyright, but a bill for their relief was rejected. {Sidenote: Supplementary legislation} In 1801 an act was passed authorizing suits for damages [at common law, as well as penalties under statute] during the period of protection of the statute, the need for such a law having been shown in the case of Beckford _v._ Hood in 1798, wherein the court had to "stretch a point" to protect the plaintiff's rights in an anonymous book, which he had not entered in the Stationers' register. {Sidenote: The Georgian period}