ABSTRACT
The special measures for the control of the press taken during the Commonwealth and Protectorate naturally lapsed at the Restoration. The authors, printers, and publishers of blasphemous and seditious writings were punishable at Common Law, and it was also probably illegal to publish any news without the King’s consent. The King and the Secretaries of State and the Master and Wardens of the Stationers’ Company were given power to issue warrants for the searching of any premises suspected to contain illegally-printed books. The Act of 1662 made a few exceptions in favour of peers, and with this concession they were satisfied. In the months between the beginning of the Popish Plot scare and the expiration of the Act enforcement was particularly lax. The Parliament of James II renewed the Licensing Act for a period of seven years.
