The Customs Laws Consolidation Act, 1876 — 39 & 40 Vict. C. 36
XLII. The goods enumerated and described in the following table of prohibitions and restrictions inwards are hereby prohibited to be imported or brought into the United Kingdom, save as thereby excepted, and if any goods so enumerated and described shall be imported or brought into the United Kingdom contrary to the prohibitions or restrictions contained therein, such goods shall be forfeited, and may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the Commissioners of Customs may direct.
A Table of Prohibitions and Restrictions Inwards
Goods prohibited to be imported.—Books wherein the Copyright shall be first subsisting, first composed or written or printed in the United Kingdom, and printed or reprinted in any other Country as to which the proprietor of such Copyright or his agent shall have given to the Commissioners of Customs a notice in writing, duly declared, that such Copyright subsists, such notice also stating when such Copyright will expire.1767
XLIV. The Commissioners of Customs shall cause to be made and to be publicly exposed at the Custom Houses in the several ports in the United Kingdom lists of all books wherein the Copyright shall be subsisting, and as to which the proprietor of such Copyright, or his agent, shall have given notice in writing to the said Commissioners that such Copyright exists, stating in such notice when such Copyright expires, accompanied by a declaration made and subscribed before a collector of Customs or a justice of the peace that the contents of such notice are true.
XLV. If any person shall have cause to complain of the insertion of any book in such lists, it shall be lawful for any judge at chambers, on the application of the person so complaining, to issue a summons calling upon the person upon whose notice such book shall have been so inserted to appear before any such judge at a time to be appointed in such summons, to show cause why such book shall not be expunged from such lists, and any such judge shall at the time so appointed proceed to hear and determine upon the matter of such summons and make his order thereon in writing; and upon service of such order or a certified copy thereof, upon the Commissioners of Customs or their secretary for the time being, the said Commissioners shall expunge such book from the list, or retain the same therein according to the tenor of such order; and in case such book shall be expunged from such list, the importation thereof shall not be deemed to be prohibited. If at the time appointed in any such summons the person so summoned shall not appear before such judge, then upon proof by affidavit that such summons or a true copy thereof has been personally served upon the person so summoned, or sent to him by post to or left at his last known place of abode or business, any such judge may proceed ex parte to hear and determine the matter; but if either party be dissatisfied with such order he may apply to a superior Court to review such decision and to make such further order thereon as the Court may see fit: Provided always that nothing herein contained shall affect any proceeding at law or in equity which any party aggrieved by reason of the insertion of any book pursuant to any such notice, or the removal of any book from such list pursuant to any such order or by reason of any false declaration under this Act, might or would otherwise have against any party giving such notice or obtaining such order or making such false declaration.
CLII. Any books wherein the copyright shall be subsisting, first composed or written or printed in the United Kingdom, and printed or reprinted in any other country, shall be and are hereby absolutely prohibited to be imported into the British possessions abroad: Provided always that no such books shall be prohibited to be imported as aforesaid, unless the proprietor of such copyright, or his agent, shall have given notice in writing to the Commissioners of Customs that such copyright subsists, and in such notice shall have stated when the copyright will expire: and the said Commissioners shall cause to be made and transmitted to the several ports in the British possessions abroad, from time to time to be publicly exposed there, lists of books respecting which such notice shall have been duly given, and all books imported contrary thereto shall be forfeited: but nothing herein contained shall be taken to prevent Her Majesty from exercising the powers vested in her by 10 & 11 Vict. c. 95 to suspend in certain cases such prohibition.