British Museum - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition british-museum

Definition :

British museum, founded in 1752, under the will of Sir Hans Sloane and 25 Geo. 2, c. 22. The museum is governed by a body of trustees' of whom three, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons, are ex-officio trustees. The museum is entitled to a copy of every book published in the United Kingdom by s. 15 of the Copyright Act, 1911, but certain classes of publications, e.g., trade advertisements, registers of voters, specifications of Patents, time tables, calendars, etc., may be excepted; see British Museum Act, 1932. The trustees are authorized to store newspapers at 'the Hendon building' by the British Museum Act, 1902, and to lend objects for public exhibition by 14 & 15 Geo. 5, c. 23. In Martin v. British Museum Trustees, (1894) 10 TLR 338, the plaintiff failed to recover for a libel in a pamphlet bought by the defendants and placed in the library for public use.