구텐베르크 활판인쇄기술 발명에 대한 영국사회의 법적 대응 - 영국의 검열법과 저작권법의 역사적 기원 -

Legal response in British society for Gutenberg’s invention of typography - Historical Origins of the British censorship act and copyright act -

The invention of typography had a great impact on human society. It enables the mass production of the book. Analyzing the human response in respect of legal aspects for this breakthrough technology would be helpful for us to tackle legal problem for new technology in the future. First, typography has the great advantage that contributes to the production and diffusion of knowledge. Such positive side was led to the enactment of legislation to facilitate the diffusion of these technologies. On the other hand, because the popularization of publication could threaten the rulers, censorship act would be enacted. The British designed a legal system in conformity with the needs of the times for the invention of the 15th century typography techniques. The publishing industry was successfully established in early stages by enactment of laws having preferential treatment for foreign engineers. After enactment of strong censorship in order to maintain the power of the royal family at the press Controlled side, the Glorious Revolution made it possible to eliminating the censorship laws. This made legal foundation of liberal democracy. It was able to take advantage of the typography technology for the diffusion of knowledge efficiently. In addition, ownership of copyright had changed from the publisher to the author. It was beneficial to the cultural industry. It is necessary to enact the law designed to fit the new technology called electronic publishing.