The action brought by Spoor and Fisher on the part of the family relied on a little known legal provision: Section 5(2) of the 1911 Imperial Copyright Act. This was a British statute, which was made law throughout the British Empire as it existed in 1911, including South Africa. According to this provision, where an author assigned his copyright during his lifetime, 25 years after his death the copyright reverted to the Executor of his estate, as an asset in that estate, notwithstanding any other assignments of copyright which might have taken place in the meantime.