Q&A: Publishing a Person’s Writings When He Did Not Want Them Published After His Death
Publishing a Person’s Writings When He Did Not Want Them Published After His Death
Answer
As an aside, there is a similar issue surrounding the writings of Rabbi Chaim of Brisk. He was an insanely extreme perfectionist (like all the Briskers), and therefore published only one work, a not-very-thick volume—his novellae on Maimonides—which came out only after he had scrutinized every single word with the utmost care. After his death, they have never stopped publishing articles, essays, and lectures of his, from hidden manuscripts, from his students, and from other sources. There have been terrible disputes about this on the legal level as well (apparently there were even thefts from the family). But the main problem is not the money and the property rights, but the moral rights. He did not want to publish these novellae, and others are publishing them in his name. The claim is exactly the same as yours.
Incidentally, in this context people raise the argument that Torah insights do not belong to the person who originated them, because the Torah is the inheritance of the public. (That is what several halakhic decisors wrote regarding copyright in Torah novellae.)
Interesting.