From 1790 to 1891, the United States prevented foreign authors from obtaining domestic copyright protection, implicitly subsidizing a domestic reprinting industry. With foreign works a "free" and unprotected resource, American publishers created a system of voluntary norms, known as "trade courtesy" to create and enforce psuedo-property rights in uncopyrighted foreign works, simulating the effects of legal copyright protection. This paper analyzes this system using the Bloomington School's institutional design principles to understand its effectiveness, and pitfalls, in managing the commons of unprotected foreign works in 19^th^ Century America.