SECTION I.: Perpetuity of Intellectual Property.

If men have a natural right of property, in their intellectual productions, it follows, of necessity, that that right continues at least during life. Nature has certainly fixed no limit short of life, to the right of property. Limitation to a less period, would be contrary to the very nature of the right of property, which, as has been before repeatedly mentioned, is an absolute right of dominion; a right of having a thing entirely subject to one’s will. If a man’s right to exercise this dominion, were limited in duration, it would not be absolute. If, therefore, his will to exercise it, continue through his life, his right to exercise it, continues for the same length of time—for his will and his right go hand in hand. The property is, therefore, necessarily his, during his life, unless he consent to part with it.