The government class book / Designed for the instruction of youth in the principles of constitutional government and the rights and duties of citizens.

by Andrew W. Young

§1. Congress has power "to establish post-offices and post-roads." The post-office department, from the facilities which it affords for the circulation of intelligence and the transaction of business, is an institution of incalculable value to the union. It is impossible to conceive all the difficulties which would attend the exercise of this power by the different states. A uniform system of regulations is indispensable to the efficiency of this department, and could be secured only by placing this power in the hands of congress.

§2. Congress has power "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Useful sciences and arts are promoted by new books and new inventions. But if every man had the right to print and sell every book or writing, without compensation to the author, there would be little to encourage men of ability to spend, as is often done, years of labor in preparing new and useful works. Nor would men of genius be likely to spend their time and money in inventing and constructing expensive machinery, if others had an equal right to make and sell the same. In pursuance of the power here given, congress has enacted laws for the benefit of authors and inventors.

§3. The exclusive right of an author to the benefits of the sale of his books or writings, is called copy-right, and is obtained thus: The author sends a printed copy of the title of his book to the clerk of the district court of the United States of the district in which the author resides. The clerk records the title in a book, for which he receives fifty cents, and gives the author, under the seal of the court, a copy of the record, for which also he receives fifty cents.

§4. The author must also, within three months after the first publication of the work, deliver a copy of the same to the clerk of the district court. And he must cause to be printed on the title page or page immediately following, of every copy of the book, words showing that the law has been complied with. This secures to the author the sole right to print and sell his work for twenty-eight years, at the expiration of which time, he may have his right continued for fourteen years longer, by again complying with the requirements of the law as before, provided it be done within six months before the expiration of the first term, and a copy of the record published in a newspaper for the space of four weeks.

§5. Patents for new inventions are obtained at the patent office at the seat of government. This office is connected with the department of the interior. (Chap. XLI, §7.) The commissioner of patents superintends the granting of patents under the direction of the secretary of the interior. To secure an exclusive right to an invention, the inventor must deliver to the commissioner of patents, a written description of his invention, and specify the improvement which he claims as his own discovery; and he must make oath that he believes he is the discoverer thereof.

§6. Before the petition of an inventor is considered, he must pay the sum of thirty dollars. If the commissioner, upon examination, does not find that the invention had been before discovered, he issues a patent therefor. Patents are granted for the term of fourteen years, and may be renewed for a further term of seven years, if the inventor has not been able to obtain a reasonable profit from his invention.

§7. Congress has power "to constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court." As the first section of the third article of the constitution, in providing for a national judiciary, authorizes congress to ordain and establish such inferior courts, the insertion of the power in this place seems to have been unnecessary, (Chap. XLII, §1.)

Chapter XXXVI.

Powers of Congress in relation to Piracy and Offenses against the Law of Nations; War; Marque and Reprisal, Public Defense, District of Columbia; Implied Powers.

§1. The next clause grants to congress the power "to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations." Piracy is commonly defined to be forcible robbery or depredation upon the high seas. But the term felony was not exactly defined by the laws of England, whence the common law of this country was derived; consequently its meaning was not the same in all the states. It was sometimes applied to capital offenses only; at other times, to all crimes above misdemeanors. For the sake of uniformity, the power to define these offenses is given to congress: and as the states have no jurisdiction beyond their own limits, it is proper that congress should have the power to punish as well as define crimes committed on the high seas.