Mary Baker Eddy

(Was: Re: copyright under stress)

On Tue, 13 Jun 2000, Ransford Pyle <pyle[_at_]mail.ucf.edu> wrote:
>
> What a fascinating story about Mary Baker Eddy. Couldn't a separation
> of powers argument be used there as well? Is there a ready source of
> the details of this case?

The law in question was Private Law 92-60, 85 Stat. 857, "An Act for the Relief of Clayton Bion Craig, Arthur P. Wurth, Mrs. Lenore D. Hanks, David E. Sleeper, and DeWitt John," enacted December 15, 1971. It purported to restore the copyright in Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science work "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." As far as I know, this is the only attempt, pre-NAFTA and pre-GATT, to restore the copyright in a public domain work.

As was Tyler pointed out, the law was overturned on the ground that it unconstitutionally advanced the position of a particular religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The case is United Christian Scientists, et al. v. Christian Science Board of Directors, First Church of Christ, Scientist, 829 F.2d 1152 (D.C. Cir. 1987).

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