PRE-CENSORSHIP AND CENSORSHIP

I. Backdrop

There existed the system of prior licensing with respect to print media in Britain during the reign of
the Henry VIII. A Later there was strong opposition against prior licensing and finally it was expired in
the year of 1695. But there was no judicial contribution to the freedom of press. Court made first
contribution towards the freedom of press in the case of R.v. Dean of Asath (1784). The court held
that liberty of press consists in printing without any previous license subject to any consequences of
law. The first constitutional recognition of the freedom of press was in Virginia Bill of Rights in 1776.
The freedom of press was incorporated in the American Constitution by the First Amendment in
1791, which provided that congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech or press. During
that time many scholars were of the opinion that opined freedom of press meant absence of prior
restraints and nothing more than that

II. Difference between pre censorship & censorship

There are several differences between restraints on the press imposed before and after publication.
The executive imposes prior restraints while a court of law participates in the imposition of post-
publication restraints. The former system permits suppression of material before it sees the light of
the day. The latter requires establishment of guilt in a court of law to justify suppression of
published material. The executive imposes prior restraints on the press according to its own
satisfaction. There is no public or any other hearing. A court, on the contrary, holds a public trial. The
day-to-day licensing of material is not amenable to judicial review. Therefore, imposition of post-
publication restraints only contains the safeguards of objectivity and impartiality implicit in a fair and
open trial in a court of law.