Licensing Order of 1643

E518678

The Licensing Order of 1643 was a British parliamentary decree that imposed pre-publication censorship on printed works, prompting John Milton’s famous free-speech defense in Areopagitica.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Statements Referenced by

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf censorship law
parliamentary decree
press regulation
aimedAt controlling the press
regulating political and religious publications
suppressing unlicensed printing
appliesTo books
newsbooks
pamphlets
printed works
authorityGrantedTo Stationers' Company NERFINISHED
official licensers
country England
criticizedBy John Milton NERFINISHED
dateEnacted 1643
enactedBy Parliament of England NERFINISHED
enactedDuring Long Parliament NERFINISHED
historicalPeriod English Civil War NERFINISHED
historicalSignificance catalyst for one of the earliest major defenses of free speech in English
key example of early modern press censorship
imposes pre-publication censorship
influenced debates on freedom of the press
development of free speech theory
inspiredWork Areopagitica NERFINISHED
jurisdiction Kingdom of England NERFINISHED
language English
legalStatus lapsed
legalSystem English law NERFINISHED
location London, England
surface form: London
opposedBy authors
printers
penalty destruction of unlicensed printing presses
fines for unlicensed printing
seizure of unlicensed books
regulates booksellers
printing presses
publishers
relatedTo Star Chamber Decree of 1637 NERFINISHED
replacedBy Licensing of the Press Act 1662 NERFINISHED
requires pre-publication licensing
prior approval of publications
subjectMatter censorship
freedom of the press
publication licensing
typeOfCensorship prior restraint

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Areopagitica opposes Licensing Order of 1643
Areopagitica relatedTo Licensing Order of 1643