Abstract

The opening of Great Exhibition of 1851 coincided with the start of a long debate on the law of patents. The question was whether patents were an encouragement to economic development or a hindrance. For The Economist which had been founded a few years earlier in the wake of the debate on the Corn Laws, the straightforward answer was that they were a hindrance and should be abolished. This article examines the arguments used by The Economist and shows that its analysis technological progress in the Victorian industry foreshadowed some of today’s concerns.