Licensing of the Press Act 1662 (original) (raw)
The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 was an Act of the Parliament of England (14 Car. II. c. 33) with the long title "An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Books and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing Presses". Having expired in 1695, it was officially repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863, which repealed a large set of superseded acts.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| dbo:abstract | The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 was an Act of the Parliament of England (14 Car. II. c. 33) with the long title "An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Books and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing Presses". Having expired in 1695, it was officially repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863, which repealed a large set of superseded acts. The Act was originally limited to two years. The provisions as to importation of books, the appointment of licensers, and the number of printers and founders were practically re-enactments of the similar provisions in an order of the Star Chamber of 1637. Printing presses were not to be set up without notice to the Stationers' Company. A king's messenger had power by warrant of the king or a secretary of state to enter and search for unlicensed presses and printing. Severe penalties by fine and imprisonment were denounced against offenders. The act was successively renewed up to 1679. Under the powers of the act Sir Roger L'Estrange was appointed licenser, and the effect of the supervision was that practically the newspaper press was reduced to the London Gazette. The objections made to lines 594–599 of the first book of Paradise Lost by the archbishop of Canterbury's chaplain, acting as licenser, are well known. The act expired in 1679, and for the remainder of the reign of Charles II, as in the reign of George III, the restrictions on the press took the form of prosecutions for libel. In 1685 the Licensing Act was renewed for seven years (1 Jac. II. c. 17, § 15). No mention of the liberty of the press was made in the Bill of Rights. On the expiration of the Licensing Act in 1692 it was continued till the end of the existing session of parliament (4 & 5 Will. and Mary, c. 24, § 14). In 1695 the Commons refused to renew it. The stationers petitioned Parliament for new censorship legislation, and when that failed they argued that authors had a natural and inherent right of ownership in what they wrote (knowing there was little an author could do with such rights other than sign them over to a publisher). This argument persuaded the Parliament and in 1710 the first Copyright Act (8 Anne, c. 19) was enacted. The power of a secretary of state to issue a warrant, whether general or special, for the purpose of searching for and seizing the author of a libel or the libellous papers themselves – a power exercised by the Star Chamber and confirmed by the Licensing Act – was still asserted, and was not finally declared illegal until the case of Entick v. Carrington in 1765 (St. Tr. xix. 1030). In 1776 the House of Commons came to a resolution in accordance with this decision. The compulsory stamp duty on newspapers was abandoned in 1855 (18 Vict. C. 27), the duty on paper in 1861 (24 Vict. C. 20), the optional duty on newspapers in 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 38). From that time the English press may be said to date its complete freedom, which rests rather upon an oral constitutional rather than a statutory foundation. No legislative provision confirms the freedom of the press, as is the case in many countries. (en) Le Licensing Act de 1662 est une loi votée par le Parlement d'Angleterre, peu après la restauration en 1660 du roi Charles II, qui a pour objectif de prévenir les fréquents abus dans l'édition et les livres et pamphlets séditieux ou licencieux. Cette loi, détestée car elle restreignait considérablement la liberté de la presse, a été prolongée dans le même sens par le Statute Law Revision Act de 1863. À l'origine limitée à deux ans, la durée d'application de la loi s'est perpétuée progressivement. De sévères pénalités sous forme d'amendes et d'emprisonnement ont rendu la loi dissuasive et la presse britannique s'est peu à peu réduite à la London Gazette. Le non-renouvellement de la loi par la chambre des communes, plusieurs années après la Glorieuse Révolution britannique, en 1695, a entraîné la création de nombreux journaux à Londres, en particulier par des immigrés de la diaspora protestante. Cette loi est remplacée par le Copyright Act de 1710 qui permet une régulation du copyright par le gouvernement et les tribunaux au lieu d'accords entre personnes privées. (fr) |
| dbo:wikiPageExternalLink | http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp%3Fcompid=47336. |
| dbo:wikiPageID | 8838515 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageLength | 5835 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger) |
| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID | 1025682480 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbr:Roger_L'Estrange dbr:Bill_of_Rights_1689 dbr:Printing_press dbr:Licensing_Order_of_1643 dbc:1662_in_England dbr:Freedom_of_the_press dbr:George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom dbr:Libel dbr:Star_Chamber dbr:Stationers'_Company dbr:Statute_of_Anne dbr:Paradise_Lost dbr:British_House_of_Commons dbr:London_Gazette dbr:Parliament_of_England dbr:United_Kingdom_constitutional_law dbr:Archbishop_of_Canterbury dbr:Act_of_Parliament dbc:1662_in_law dbc:Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England dbr:Charles_II_of_England dbr:Secretary_of_State_(England) dbr:Statute_Law_Revision_Act_1863 dbr:Long_title dbr:Unwritten_constitution dbr:Entick_v._Carrington |
| dbp:pages | 299 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:volume | 22 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate | dbt:Citation_needed dbt:EB1911 dbt:Refbegin dbt:Refend dbt:Reflist dbt:Use_British_English dbt:Use_dmy_dates dbt:UK_legislation |
| dbp:wstitle | Press Laws (en) |
| dcterms:subject | dbc:1662_in_England dbc:1662_in_law dbc:Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England |
| gold:hypernym | dbr:Act |
| rdf:type | yago:Abstraction100002137 yago:Act106532095 yago:Communication100033020 yago:Document106470073 yago:LegalDocument106479665 yago:Writing106362953 yago:WrittenCommunication106349220 dbo:Band yago:WikicatActsOfTheParliamentOfEngland yago:WikicatActsOfTheParliamentOfTheUnitedKingdom |
| rdfs:comment | The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 was an Act of the Parliament of England (14 Car. II. c. 33) with the long title "An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Books and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing Presses". Having expired in 1695, it was officially repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863, which repealed a large set of superseded acts. (en) Le Licensing Act de 1662 est une loi votée par le Parlement d'Angleterre, peu après la restauration en 1660 du roi Charles II, qui a pour objectif de prévenir les fréquents abus dans l'édition et les livres et pamphlets séditieux ou licencieux. Le non-renouvellement de la loi par la chambre des communes, plusieurs années après la Glorieuse Révolution britannique, en 1695, a entraîné la création de nombreux journaux à Londres, en particulier par des immigrés de la diaspora protestante. (fr) |
| rdfs:label | Licensing Act (1662) (fr) Licensing of the Press Act 1662 (en) |
| owl:sameAs | freebase:Licensing of the Press Act 1662 yago-res:Licensing of the Press Act 1662 wikidata:Licensing of the Press Act 1662 dbpedia-fr:Licensing of the Press Act 1662 https://global.dbpedia.org/id/2zPkQ |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Licensing_of_the_Press_Act_1662?oldid=1025682480&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Licensing_of_the_Press_Act_1662 |
| is dbo:wikiPageRedirects of | dbr:Licensing_Act_1662 |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:Roger_L'Estrange dbr:History_of_cricket_to_1725 dbr:Licensing_Act dbr:Licensing_Order_of_1643 dbr:1662_in_England dbr:1662_in_literature dbr:Massacre_of_Glencoe dbr:English_cricket_matches_to_1725 dbr:Freedom_of_the_press dbr:Copyright dbr:Copyright_law_of_the_United_Kingdom dbr:Bodley's_Librarian dbr:Statute_of_Anne dbr:William_Bradford_(printer,_born_1663) dbr:List_of_Acts_of_the_Parliament_of_England,_1660–1699 dbr:Cavalier_Parliament dbr:History_of_English_cricket_(1726–1750) dbr:History_of_liberalism dbr:Grub_Street dbr:Marmaduke_Johnson dbr:Imprimatur dbr:Licensing_Act_1662 |
| is dbp:relatedLegislation of | dbr:Statute_of_Anne |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Licensing_of_the_Press_Act_1662 |