"Introduction: Albion’s legacy?" [2013] ELECD 268; in Suthersanen, Uma; Gendreau, Ysolde (eds), "A Shifting Empire" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) x

Book Title: A Shifting Empire

Editor(s): Suthersanen, Uma; Gendreau, Ysolde

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781003084

Section Title: Introduction: Albion’s legacy?

Number of pages: 5

Extract:

Introduction: Albion's legacy?
Uma Suthersanen and Ysolde Gendreau

The only reason for going back into the past is to come forward to the
present, to help us to see more clearly the shape of the law today by seeing
how it took shape. (Victoria v Commonwealth [1962] HCA 37; (1962) 107 CLR 529, at 595
per Windeyer J.)

This volume embarks on a global journey, starting from Britain and
visiting many other shores. It specifically surveys the impact and
evolution of the British Imperial Copyright Act 1911 within such
countries that were part of the British Empire. It offers a bird's eye
perspective of why and how the first global copyright law launched a new
order, which is often termed as the `common law copyright system'. The
collection of essays in this volume draws upon some of the best
scholarship from Canada, Australia, Singapore, Jamaica, Israel, India,
South Africa and New Zealand. The authors, academics and practitioners
alike, situate the Imperial Copyright Act 1911 within national laws, both
historically and legally. The aim of the chapters is to query the extent to
which the ethos and legacy of the 1911 Copyright Act remains within
indigenous laws.
There is a lingering view that, with the advent of decolonization from
the 1940s onwards, British imperial law has been totally eradicated
within national systems. This is basically true, and begs the question: is
there any point in revisiting the past and tracing the genesis and
transplantation of the 1911 Copyright Act? It stands to ...