PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
.885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
N
4. The States which restrict the grant of copyright in accordance with the present Act shall give notice thereof to the Government of the Swiss Confederation by a written declaration, specifying the countries in regard to which protection is restricted, and the restrictions to which the rights of authors who are subjects or citizens of those countries are subjected. The Government of the Swiss Confedera- tion will immediately communicate this declaration to all the other States of the Union.
40706
OPINION.
We are of opinion that the words " failing to give adequate protection" are wide enough to include the case of a refusal to accord copyright save upon conditions for the imposition of which there are no adequate grounds, and are not limited to a failure to enforce copyright. In the preamble and also in Article 1, both of the Convention of 1886 and of the revised Convention of 1908, the words "protéger
are obviously used to include the and "protection," "protect" and "protection acquisition as well as the enjoyment of copyright.
Law Officers' Department,
24th August, 1912.
RUFUS D. ISAACS. JOHN SIMON.
SIR,
No. 159.
(NORTHERN NIGERIA.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Acquisition of certain land ut Jebba held by the Niger Company.]
Law Officers' Department,
Royal Courts of Justice, 21st December, 1912. We were honoured with your commands signified to us in Mr. H. J. Read's letter of the 2nd May last, stating that he was directed by you to transmit to us copies of correspondence regarding the acquisition by the Government of Northern Nigeria of a piece of land at Jebba belonging to the Niger Company, Limited, and required for the construction of the Lagos Railway, Northern Extension.
That he was also to enclose a copy of a Parliamentary Paper (C. 9372),, issued in 1899, regarding the revocation of the Charter of the Royal Niger Company and the taking over by His Majesty's Government of the administrative rights and powers of the Company, together with a copy of the Act of Parliament passed to make provision for the payments to be made to the Company in consideration of the transfer.
That he was also to enclose an Office print, on pages 40 and 41 of which would be found the Agreement dated 2nd August, 1900, regarding the areas which the Niger Company retained on the banks of the Niger. That of those areas that at Port Ilorin (Jebba) contained the portion of land which the Government desired to acquire.
That he was also to enclose a volume containing the laws of Northern Nigeria. That the Proclamation (No. 3 of 1909 as amended by No. 13 of 1909) dealing with the appropriation of land for railway purposes would be found on pages 585 to 587. of that volume (chapter 53), with which should be read Section 13 of the Supreme Court Proclamation (Chapter 2) on page 12, while on pages 667 to 676 (Chapter 65) would be found the Proclamation defining and regulating the tenure of all land within the Protectorate, with the exception (Section 2, proviso) of those areas retained by the Niger Company under the agreements of the 2nd and 28th August, 1900. Our attention was also directed to Section 15 of that Proclamation.
That it would be observed from the correspondence that the Niger Company, Limited, contended that the Protectorate Government, even though fully authorised by local legislation, had not the right to appropriate for public purposes any of the Company's freehold lands in the Protectorate unless such appropriation had been agreed to by mutual consent, or had received the authority of Parliament; and that they apparently based their contention on the fact that, in the preamble to 62 and 63 Victoria, Ch. 43, the following words were used:—
"And whereas it is proposed to transfer to the Crown the land
acquired by the Company, but to reserve to them, subject to certain exceptions,
their stations, buildings,
wharves, and workshops, and the sites thereof,
That it did not appear to you that the Act of 1899 was to be construed as a Parliamentary confirmation of the Treasury Minute of 30 June, 1899, with the effect contended for by the Company. That the second recital of the Act recited only a part of the Agreement set forth in the Treasury Minute (and that not in exact terms) and was presumably inserted to explain in general terms the necessity for the financial provisions which the Act proceeded to make. That even, however, assuming that the Act did by implication confirm the whole Agreement set forth in the Treasury Minute, it merely settled the Company in the possession of certain stations, &c., and the sites thereof, and that, in the absence of express provision in that behalf, the Company were apparently put into no better position with regard to those lands than other persons holding land at that time in the Protectorate.
That Acts which conferred exceptional exemptions and privileges were subject to strict construction, and that the Act of 1899 did not, in your view, exempt "the Company's land, by implication, from all future local legislation. That the only provision contained in the Treasury Minute (and er hypothesi confirmed by the Act) with regard to future local legislation was the provision barring specific taxation
(28623-2) Wt. 91–394. 25. 213. D&R.