British

"The earliest British copyright laws were instruments of censorship. In 1557, Catholic Queen Mary Tudor capped off a 120-year monarchal struggle to censor printing presses in England by issuing a charter to the Stationers' Company, a guild of printers. The only books they would print were allowed by the Crown. The company was authorized to confiscate unsanctioned books. It was a sweet deal for the publishers. They got exclusivity- monopoly power to print and distribute specific works, the functional foundation to copyright. The only price they paid was relinquishing the freedom to print or dissenting texts. While professional authors had no declared standing before the law according to the practices of the Stationers' Company, authors certainly played an economic role in the bookmaking process. The printers paid authors for their manuscripts and in return received exclusive rights to them. The authors not only received professional compensation and standing through the bookmaking process; they could be assured that their works would not be pirated or misrepresented in the market."

This is what Siva said.