## Facts

- Mary Baker G. Eddy wrote autograph letters to a cousin concerning domestic and business matters, including health and work she was doing.
- Libbie and another defendant, operating a Boston auction business, acquired the letters and planned to sell them at public auction.
- To advertise the sale, defendants printed and distributed a catalogue containing portions of the letters and circulated excerpts through newspapers in multiple cities.
- Baker, as executor of Eddy’s estate, filed a bill in equity seeking to restrain defendants from publishing or otherwise reproducing the letters and to restrain sale or transfer of the manuscripts.
- By agreement, the case was reported for determination on the existence, scope, and enforceability of the claimed rights and the availability of injunctive relief.

## Issues

1. Whether the author of ordinary private letters retains a proprietary right to control publication of their contents separate from ownership of the physical letters.
2. Whether that right survives the author’s death and may be enforced by the executor in equity.
3. Whether equity may enjoin (a) publication or other reproduction of the letters and (b) sale or transfer of the physical manuscripts.

## Decision

- The court held that the author of private letters, even lacking literary merit, retains a proprietary right in the contents sufficient to restrain unauthorized publication or reproduction.
- The executor of the author’s will may sue in equity to enjoin publication or “multiplication” of the letters in whole or in part and may obtain access to make copies within a reasonable time.
- The executor was not entitled to an order restraining the sale or transfer of the letters as physical manuscripts.
- Injunctive relief was therefore available against publication and reproduction for advertising or other purposes, but not against alienation of the tangible letters.

## Legal Principles

- Ownership of a private letter’s physical paper may be separated from a distinct proprietary interest of the writer in the letter’s contents for purposes of controlling publication.
- Lack of literary quality does not defeat the writer’s enforceable interest in preventing unauthorized publication of private correspondence.
- The writer’s publication-control interest in private letters may pass to the estate and be enforced by the executor through equitable relief.
- Equity may restrain publication or reproduction of the contents but generally will not restrain sale of the physical letters by their lawful holder.
- As ancillary relief, equity may require reasonable access for the executor to make copies while protecting against unauthorized dissemination.

## Conclusion

The court recognized a post-mortem, enforceable proprietary right in the contents of ordinary private letters to prevent unauthorized publication or reproduction, while preserving the holder’s right to sell the tangible manuscripts themselves.


Baker v. Libbie, 210 Mass. 599, 97 N.E. 109 (Mass. 1912)