Abstract
The first subsection examines the evolution of British and international copyright laws for published and performed works, and Shaw’s efforts to improve them. It investigates how he tried to protect his writings from unauthorized publication and his practices in permitting their productions on stage and screen. It concludes with a lawsuit involving copyright infringement of The Chocolate Soldier on Arms and the Man. After a historical summary of income tax in Great Britain, the second subsection analyzes the 1910 surtax on large incomes, to which Shaw’s and his millionaire wife Charlotte’s were subjected, with her income legally treated as his. His income as a writer varied yearly, he had no means of determining what hers was, and he was taxable for a larger income than he enjoyed. Thus, he was at odds with the law. How he handled the issue displays his practical abilities and tact.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Allingham, Philip V. “Nineteenth-Century British and American Copyright Law,” The Victorian Web: Literature, history and culture in the age of Victoria. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/pva/pva74.html (accessed December 5, 2016).
“Association of Research Libraries.” http://www.arl.org/focus-areas/copyright-ip#.WEW2o4VK6gF (accessed December 5, 2016).
Bernard Shaw and Gabriel Pascal. Ed. Bernard F. Dukore. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.
Bernard Shaw and His Publishers. Ed. Michel W. Pharand. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.
“Copyright.” International Copyright Relations of the United States, www.copyright.gov/circs/circ38a.pdf (accessed December 5, 2016).
Dukore, Bernard F. Shaw’s Theater. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. Guide to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Act, 1971). Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization, 1978. http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/copyright/615/wipo_pub_615.pdf (accessed December 5, 2016).
“Editorials,” The Musical Herald and Tonic Sol-fa Reporter. May 1, 1893, 144. https://books.google.com/books?id=MN4qAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=alfred+moul+england+france&source=bl&ots=KGCuO7kDjx&sig=d5nuElpkMUsR8uRHN6HkGUCMqBc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfv9Lkv7HMAhUpsIMKHXVpAQQQ6AEILDAE#v=onepage&q=alfred%20moul%20england%20france&f=false (accessed December 5, 2016).
Hall, Ruth. Ed. Dear Dr. Stopes: Sex in the 1920s. London: Penguin Books, 1982.
Hartnoll, Phyllis, ed. Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
“Historical UK Inflation Rates & Calculator.” http://inflation.stephenmorley.org/ (accessed December 6, 2016).
“Income Tax.” http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/income-tax (accessed December 6, 2016).
Internet Broadway Database. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/man-and-superman-1575 (accessed December 6, 2016).
Ketchum, Roland and Adolph Gillis, ed. Three Masters of English Drama: Bernard Shaw, Cæsar and Cleopatra; John Dryden, All for Love; William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1934.
Laurence, Dan H. Bernard Shaw: A Bibliography, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983.
Mander, Raymond and Jo Mitchenson, Theatrical Companion to Shaw. London: Rockliff, 1954.
O’Hara, Michael. “Bernard Shaw and the Federal Theatre Project: Plays, Productions, and Politics.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland, 1997.
———. “On the Rocks and The Federal Theatre Project.” SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, vol. 12. Ed. Fred D. Crawford. 79–88. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992.
“Revised Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works,” November 13, 1908. http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/1908_Berne_Convention.pdf (accessed December 6, 2016).
Ridges, Edward Wavell. Constitutional Law of England. https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3lDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=1910+supertax+england&source=bl&ots=V1jtwdxZ57&sig=lfz6czNMyYZxsuqEN4eqc9bnzYU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjN1JiO6dTMAhVKLSYKHfV5DbAQ6AEILjAE#v=onepage&q=1910%20supertax%20england&f=false (accessed December 6, 2016).
Scrutton, Thomas Edward. The Law of Copyright. Clark, N.J.: The Lawbook Exchange, 2007. https://books.google.com/books?id=hPhdmW9y8C4C&pg=PA294&lpg=PA294&dq=order+in+council+1887+copyright&source=bl&ots=Uab-kDivNQ&sig=foWSGjsmB_D2_c9cXELUFvJEe7o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVs4rkgODQAhUIymMKHbWiCOMQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=order%20in%20council%201887%20copyright&f=false (accessed December 6, 2016).
Shaw, Bernard. Arms and the Man. The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with Their Prefaces, Volume I. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1970.
———. “Asides” (unsigned), Penny Illustrated Paper, June 8, 1889, 18.
———. Cæsar and Cleopatra. The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with Their Prefaces. Volume II. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1971.
———. Candida. The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with Their Prefaces, Volume I. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1970.
———. Collected Letters 1874–1897, Volume I. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1965.
———. Collected Letters 1898–1910, Volume II. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1972.
———. Collected Letters 1911–1925, Volume III. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1985.
———. Collected Letters 1926–1950, Volume IV. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1988.
———. The Collected Screenplays of Bernard Shaw, Ed. Bernard F. Dukore. London: George Prior, 1980.
———. “Copyright with America: A One-Sided Arrangement.” The Standard (January 4, 1905), 99: 3.
———. The Devil’s Disciple. The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with Their Prefaces, Volume II, ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1971.
———. (unsigned) “How Long Should Copyright Last?” The Academy. December 2, 1899, 634.
———. The Letters of Bernard Shaw to The Times 1898–1950, Ed. Ronald Ford. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2007.
———. Man and Superman. The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with Their Prefaces. Volume II. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1971.
———. The Philanderer. The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with Their Prefaces, Volume I. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1970.
———. Pygmalion. The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Collected Plays with Their Prefaces, Volume IV. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1972.
———. Shaw’s Music, 3 vols. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. London: Max Reinhardt, 1981.
———. Theatrics. Ed. Dan H. Laurence. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995.
“Taxation During the First World War.” Living Heritage: Taxation. http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/taxation/overview/firstworldwar/ (accessed December 6, 2016).
“Taxation: New Directions, New Taxes.” Living Heritage. http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/taxation/overview/newtaxes/ (accessed December 6, 2016).
Williams, Ben. “Income-Tax—The History and Background (Timeline).” Keepers Accountancy’s Blog, 14 January 2011. http://www.keepers.info/blog/bid/58173/Income-Tax-The-History-and-Background-Timeline (accessed December 6, 2016).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dukore, B.F. (2017). Crimes and the Professional Writer. In: Crimes and Punishments and Bernard Shaw. Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62746-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62746-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62745-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62746-5
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)