Act outlawing the publication of unlicensed material passed by the English Parliament

Historical Context Note

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Despite having its origins in a protest against Charles I's repressive and arbitrary governmental methods, after nine months in power, the new Commonwealth passed a Parliamentary Act aimed at quashing publications critical of its government. The Act ruled that all books, pamphlets and newspapers had to obtain a licence for publication, thus instituting a system of censorship.

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2386 Act outlawing the publication of unlicensed material passed by the English Parliament 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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