Bible Stories

I came across something online recently in passing where people were asking if Bibles were copyright, & were being told that of course they weren’t, since that only persists for 70 years after the authors’ death. The thing is, I don’t think many people are reading the original Greek text these days. Not outside Greece anyway. In which case, what matters is not when Matthew, Mark, Luke & John died (leaving aside fascinating questions of biblical scholarship as to who exactly they were & whether they wrote what was attributed to them, & how authorship was defined in their world), but who the author of the relevant English translation was.

The 2 modern translations I own copies of are the Good News Bible, a translation published first in 1976, & the New Revised Standard Version, a translation published in 1989. They certainly assert copyright. Interestingly, the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988 explicitly provides that making a translation without the copyright holder’s permission is an infringement. It doesn’t however explicitly make it clear that the translation gives rise to a new copyright, held by the translator. One might leap to the conclusion that all the translator has done is convert a public domain work into a different form, but that it remains the same work, so remains in the public domain. Clearly this is not how it is treated, but I was curious to see where it was actually written that this should be so. Eventually I discovered that there is an explicit rule on translations, to be found in the Berne Convention, Article 2 of which expressly provides that translations are original works.

I also wanted to talk about the other interesting aspect of bible copyright, that of the King James Bible, otherwise known as the King James Version, or the Authorised Version. This was originally produced at the instigation of King James the First of England & Sixth of Scotland, though the current edition largely dates from revisions & corrections made by Benjamin Blayney in 1769. The British Government claims a perpetual copyright under the Royal Prerogative over this work. Ordinarily of course, copyright would not persist for such a long period after the work was created. Under the current law, the 1988 Act, Crown Copyright, for works created in the service of the Crown, lasts for 50 years from the creation of the work. Under the Royal Prerogative, Letters Patent were issued authorising printers to print copies of the Authorised Version, though Oxford & Cambridge Universities were additionally given the same right. Today in England, the office of Queens Printer has ended up through mergers & acquisitions in the hands of Cambridge University Press, making them & Oxford University Press the only bodies in England authorised to print the King James Version. Here in Scotland, the Letters Patent expired in 1839, & the Government decided instead, following the recommendation of a Parliamentary Select Committee, to create a Bible Board, consisting of the Lord Advocate, the Solicitor General, 2 ministers of the Church of Scotland & 2 lay members of the Church. A publisher wanting to publish the Authorised Version could pay a deposit of £500 as security for the accuracy of the edition. An official of the board would check the accuracy. In the discussions in Parliament where the Government announced these proposals, the Government stated that it was satisfied that it had the power at common law to regulate supply of the bible. This would enable the board to use “injunction”, by which presumably they meant interdict, the relevant scottish term, to prevent “pirating” of earlier editions, an interesting early appearance of this meaning of the word. The precedent referred to was Manners v Blaire (1828) 3 Bli NS 391. In the case the Court of Session held that “The duty imposed upon the chief executive officer of the government, to superintend the publication of the Acts of the Legislature, and Acts of State of that description, and also of those works upon which the established doctrines of our religion are founded,- that it is a duty imposed upon the first executive magistrate, carrying with it a corresponding prerogative.” The Government also proposed, also following the Select Committee, that there would be no restriction on the free trade into Scotland of Bibles printed in England by the authorised printers there, provided such imports were certified by the Board as accurate. When established, the ex-officio members included, in addition to the Lord Advocate & Solicitor General, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, & the members were collectively designated as HM Sole & Master Printers.

There were debates later in the 19th Century as to whether the change had led to cheaper & more accurate Bibles being available, both in Scotland & England, with the facts disputed between the two sides in Parliament. It was pointed out however, that there was not a monopoly in England, but there was in fact intense competition amongst the Universities & the Queen’s Printer. Another point made in that debate was that in fact the Queen’s Printer – now Cambridge University Press – can prevent by injunction publication in England of Authorised Version Bibles printed other than themselves & the 2 University presses but has chosen so far not to do so. In 1920 an attempt by Oxford & Cambridge to claim the right to publish other versions of the Bible, in defiance of the owners of the copyright in them, was rejected by the courts.

Today the Board still excercises its function. Although they have no web presence & don’t seem to exist in the open, the National Library of Scotland has records of their proceedings up to the 80s, & Advocates certainly claim to be counsel to the Board, though presumably this is an honorary role. The authorised printers are, as far as I can determine, Collins, the Scottish Bible Society & RL Allan.

I notice that in my KJV, bought in the late 70s, and published by Collins, the notice inside, where some books would have a copyright notice, is titled “licence” and says that it was authorised subject to the Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria and authorised by the Lord Advocate in 1958. A glance at a new copy in the shop shows a very similar notice, but with a more recent date for authorisation.

References
books.google.co.uk/books?id=6L5ReJCqGsMC&lpg=PA145&ots=QUvzD-OzEd&dq=%22Lord%20Lyndhurst%22%20bible%20royal%20copyright&pg=PA145#v=onepage&q=%22Lord%20Lyndhurst%22%20bible%20royal%20copyright&f=false
copy.law.cam.ac.uk/cam/commentary/uk_1775/uk_1775_com_1072007111611.html#_ednref82
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1839/jul/08/printing-the-blble-scotland
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1839/jun/11/printing-the-bible-scotland
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1839/may/30/scotland-printing-the-bible
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1851/jun/17/bible-printing-monopoly
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1859/jul/19/committee-moved-for
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1860/jul/20/question-4
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1908/mar/19/bible-boards-clerk
hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1839/jul/04/bible-in-scotland
hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1839/jun/14/printing-the-bible-scotland
www.biblegateway.com/versions/Good-News-Translation-GNT-Bible/
www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-Revised-Standard-Version-NRSV-Bible/
www.cambridge.org/home/page/item6459996/?site_locale=en_GB
www.crownoffice.gov.uk/About/Departmental-Overview/RoleLdAdvocate
www.gla.ac.uk/services/specialcollections/virtualexhibitions/divinewritethekingjamesbibleandscotland/thekingjamesbibleinscotland/
www.gla.ac.uk/services/specialcollections/virtualexhibitions/divinewritethekingjamesbibleandscotland/thebibleinvictorianglasgow/
www.gla.ac.uk/services/specialcollections/virtualexhibitions/divinewritethekingjamesbibleandscotland/thebibleinvictorianglasgow/
www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/2.html
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/21
www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/cnmi/inventories/acc11182.pdf