ABSTRACT
Soon after the introduction of printing in England in 1476, the government began to assert a power to suppress or censor publications that officials found offensive for one cause or another. In 1529 Henry VIII made up the first list of prohibited books, and in the following year he established the first licensing system under secular authority. In 1925 the Minnesota legislature adopted an act for the abatement, as a public nuisance, of any "malicious, scandalous and defamatory" newspaper or other periodical. Publishers of such a newspaper or periodical were to be enjoined in an action brought by the county attorney or the attorney general, or, upon their failure, by any citizen of the county. There may be no previous restraint or licensing or censorship of publications or of distribution of printed matter. Edison in 1889 invented the kinetoscope, which led to the modern motion picture.
