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Lawrence, David. "International Freedom of the Press Essential to a Durable Peace." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 72:139-41, July 1917 L102
-------. "The Vanishing First Amendment." In American Society of Newspaper Editors, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, 1944. Washington, D.C., ASNE, 1944, pp. 80-94. L103
"I do not believe that the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States is today an adequate protection for the freedom of the press in America. Judicial interpretation has nullified the original purpose. I believe there must be an additional amendment to safeguard the freedom of the press." Lawrence objects to the application to newspapers of the constitutional power to regulate commerce. He complains particularly of the abuses of labor and postal authority.
Lawrence, Edmund, pseud. "Radio and the Richards Case." Harper's Magazine, 205:82-87, July 1952. L104
An anonymous southern California newsman discusses the four-year case of G. A. Richards before the FCC. Richards had been charged with misuse of his three powerful stations to attack his racial, political, and personal antagonists. With Richards' death, FCC was released from having to make a clear-cut decision on the misuse of radio facilities.
Lawrence, Eugene. "The Freedom of the Press in New York in 1733-35; An Epoch in American Journalism." National Magazine, 18:113-27, July-August 1893. L105
Account of the John Peter Zenger trial.
-------. "New York and the 'Liberty of the Press.'" Harper's Weekly, 38:703, 28 July 1894. L106
Account of the John Peter Zenger trial.
Lawrence, James. Dramatic Emancipation; on Strictures on the State of the Theatres, and the Consequent Degeneration of the Drama; on the Partiality and Injustice of the London Managers; on many Theatrical Regulations on the Continent, for the Security of the Literary and Dramatic Property; particularly deserving the attention of the Subscribers for a Third Theatre. London, 1813. (The Pamphleteer, vol. 2, no. 4) L107
"The Laws against Blasphemy. Mr. Sergeant Talfourd's Defence of Moxon." Law Magazine, 26:139-52, August 1841. L108
The publisher Edward Moxon was found guilty of blasphemous libel in publishing the works of Shelley.
Lawson, John D., ed. American State Trials . . . St. Louis, Thomas Law Book Co., 1914. 18 vols. L109
Summarizes historic American trials, including a number of sedition trials involving freedom of the press. These are referred to in the present bibliography under the name of the defendant.
Lawson, W. P. "Do You Believe in Censors?" Harper's Weekly, 60:86-88, 23 January 1915. L110
Article opposes legal censorship of the movies and defends the type of voluntary censorship represented by the National Board of Censorship.
-------. "How the Censor Works." Harper's Weekly, 60:39-40, 9 January 1915. L111
Account of the forming of the National Board of Censorship by the People's Institute of New York in cooperation with the motion picture manufacturers, and explains the procedure of the Board in passing upon films.
-------. "Standards of Censorship." Harper's Weekly, 60:63-65, 16 January 1915. (This article and others in the series were reprinted by the National Board of Censorship, Movies: Their Importance and Supervision, 1917. 20p.) L112
Statement of the basic policy of the National Board of Censorship in its review of motion pictures. Movie censors are "chosen for their sincerity, their breadth of sympathy, and the diversity of their training and experience."
Layard, George S. Suppressed Plates, Wood Engravings, &c. Together With Other Curiosities Germane Thereto; Being an Account of Certain Matters Peculiarly Alluring to the Collector. London, Adam and Charles Black, 1907. 254p. L113
An account of book illustrations that have been suppressed, usually by the publishers or artists, because of error, disapproval, or fear of libel, but not because of indecency.
Layton, Sir Walter T. Newsprint, a Problem for Democracy. London, O'Donoghue, 1946. 20p. L114
The chairman of the rationing committee of Britain's wartime Newsprint Supply Co. describes the wartime rationing of newsprint. He argues for more and larger papers as a means for free expression. Government restrictions on newsprint supply were relaxed in January 1949. A review of the wartime restriction on newsprint supplies and its consequences is given in a 42-page report, Newsprint, 1939-1949.
Lazarsfeld, Paul F., and Harry Field. The People Look at Radio; Report on a Survey Conducted by the National Opinion Research Center, University of Denver. Chapel Hill, N.C., University of North Carolina Press, 1946. 158p. L115
Résumé of a national opinion survey, sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters, to determine the public's opinion of radio programs and commercials. Freedom of speech is discussed (pp. 73-79) as a triangle of citizen, government, and industry.
Leach, John. Considerations on the Matter of Libel; Suggested by Mr. Fox's Notice in Parliament, of an Intended Motion on That Subject. 2d ed. with additions. London, J. Johnson, [1790?]. 29p. L116
League of Nations. Advisory Commission for the Protection and Welfare of Children and Young People. The Cinema. Geneva, The League, 1928. 34p. (League of Nations Publications, IV. Social. 1928. IV. 21) L117
Replies to a 1927 questionnaire from the Child Welfare Committee record conditions for admission of minors to motion picture shows in 34 countries. Included is the text of official regulations for the control of films exhibited to minors.
League of Nations. Advisory Committee on Social Questions. Circulation and Traffic in Obscene Publications. Summary of Annual Reports . . . Geneva, The League, 1926-46. Various paging. (League of Nations Publications, IV. Social. 1926. IV. I through IV. Social. 1946. IV. 2) L118
Reports from the various governments for the years 1926 through 1944-45.
League of Nations. Conference of Press Experts. Final Report. Geneva, The League, 1927. 32p. (League of Nations Publications, General. 1927. 15) L119
Resolutions on improving international telecommunications, facilitating the distribution of newspapers between countries, limiting censorship in peacetime, and providing international freedom for journalists.
-------. Report on Laws on Protection of Press Information. Geneva, The League, 1927. 28p. (League of Nations Publications, General. 1927. 5) L120
Texts of laws on protection of the press in 18 countries including Australia, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
League of Nations. International Conference for the Suppression of the Circulation of and Traffic in Obscene Publications. Final Act. Geneva, The League, 1923. 4p. L121
The Convention, signed at Geneva, 12 September 1923, appears in League of Nations Treaty Series, 27(658):215, 1924 and in The American Journal of lnternational Law, 20:178-89, 1926.
-------. Records of the International Conference . . . Held at Geneva from August 31st to September 12th, 1923. Geneva, The League, [1924]. 129p. L122
League of Nations. Traffic in Women and Children Committee. Obscene Publications. Replies from the Governments to the Committee's Questionnaire. Geneva, The League, 1931. 39p. (League of Nations Publications, IV. Social. 1931. IV. 3) L123
A copy of the questionnaire and additional replies are recorded in a 14-page supplement, IV. Social. 1931. IV. 9.
Lear, John. "You Can't Say That on the Air." Saturday Evening Post, 220(2):22-23+, 12 July 1947. L124
A humorous account of the humorless foibles of radio censorship and particularly the throttling of the comics. The network censor exercises more control over radio than do advertisers or the government.
Leary, Thomas B., and J. Roger Noall. "Entertainment: Public Pressures and the Law; Official and Unofficial Control of the Content and Distribution of Motion Pictures and Magazines." Harvard Law Review, 71:326-67, December 1957. L125
"The authors interviewed members of censorship boards, law enforcement officers, private attorneys, executives in the business of producing and distributing motion pictures and magazines, theater owners and retail dealers, clergymen, and representatives of private organizations concerned with the regulation of motion pictures and magazines." The discussion considers three means of control: by prior restraint, by subsequent sanctions, and by unofficial action (self-regulation, action of private groups). The authors found that all forms of regulation are imposed to a surprising extent by extralegal, even informal means. Such action is often not brought to the attention of the public. Except in isolated pockets there is very little suppression of genuine artistic expression. All forms of censorship "rest upon the premise that the public as a whole must be protected from its own tastes in entertainment." In a democratic society, those who justify this premise should be required to assume the burden of proof that censorship is necessary.
Leatherwood, Dowling. The "Freedom of the Press" in Florida. Atlanta, Ga., Department of Journalism, Emory University, 1938. 12p. L126
Florida laws and court decisions relating to newspaper libel.
Lechtreck, Roy. "Chafee on Law and Freedom of Speech." Catholic Lawyer, 11:41-46, Winter 1965. L127
Chafee believes that the greatest value of freedom of speech is not to the minority who want to speak, but to the majority who do not want to listen.
Lederman, Lorna F. "New York Statute Censoring 'Sexual Immorality' in Motion Picture Film Held Unconstitutional." Temple Law Quarterly, 33:242-46, Winter 1959. L128
The case of Kingsley International Pictures Corp. v. Regents of the University of the State of New York, 360 U.S. 684 (1959).
Lee, Alfred M. "Can the Individual Protect Himself against Propaganda Not in His Interest?" Social Forces, 29:56-61, October 1950. L129
"The extent to which a person can so protect himself depends--within the limits of available knowledge and competence--upon the extent to which he has benefited from a liberal arts education." The author comments on the difficulty of access to propaganda and propaganda analysis.
-------. "Freedom of the Press: Services of a Catch Phrase." In Studies in the Science of Society, edited by George P. Murdock. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1937, pp. 355-75. L130
A survey of the use of the term "freedom of the press" from the late eighteenth century to the present day.
-------. "Violations of Press Freedom in America." Journalism Quarterly, 15:19-27, March 1938. L131
A review of the nonlegal forces at work in America to control the mass media.
Lee, Carolyn T. Contemporary Catholic Attitudes toward Censorship for Catholics. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, 1958. 93p. (Unpublished Master's thesis) L132
Lee, Edward T. The Freedom of the Press. Address Delivered to the Graduating Class of the John Marshall Law School. Chicago, The School, 26 June 1929. 14p. (Reprinted in Commercial Law League Journal, October 1929) L133
The dean of the law school attacks the modern newspaper, a "monstrous city gargoyle," whose business interests have dominated its policies to the detriment of the people it is intended to serve. He criticizes its evil and corrupting influence, its invasion of private homes and businesses in the guise of freedom of the press, and its threat to legislators and the courts. He discusses the newspaper as "a business affected with a public interest," citing two court decisions (Munn v. the People, and Inter Ocean v. Associated Press) which "contain the germ of the solution of . . . how the press may be made the servant instead of being, as now, the tyrant of the public." If newspapers are to be treated as mere articles of trade, without regard to the public interest, then the law should exhibit no special tenderness toward them.
Lee, Frederick G. Immodesty in Art: An Expostulation and Suggestion; a Letter to Sir Frederick Leighton. 4th ed. London, G. Redway, 1887. 23p. L134
Favors censorship of sex expression in art.
Lee, James M. "Censorship of the Press." Bellman, 25:325-26, 21 September 1918. L135
A comparison of wartime censorship in Great Britain and the United States. American censorship at the front must meet regulations of both France and the United States. The author calls for some uniformity in the requirements of the two censorship codes, for the benefit of American correspondents.
Lee, Joseph. "The Dunster House Case." North American Review, 230:381-82, August 1930. L136
The vice-president of the Watch and Ward Society defends the methods used by the Society in entrapment of the proprietor of Cambridge's Dunster House Book Store for the sale of Lady Chatterley's Lover. The article is in answer to one by District Attorney Robert J. Bushnell in the May issue. Bushnell, while prosecuting the case with vigor, charged the Society with illegal methods of entrapment.
Lee, Mary. "Seek to Clear up Boston's Book Ban." New York Times, 22 January 1928, sec. 3, pp. 1, 6. L137
This reporter visited Boston in January 1928, going from bookseller to police, to district attorney, to the Watch and Ward to get to the bottom of the mass book-banning, only to learn of an "imaginary censor" operating in a panic of fear.
Lee, R. W. "The Law of Blasphemy." Michigan Law Review, 16:149-57, January 1918. L138
Occasioned by the decision, Bowman v. The Secular Society, Ltd. (1917) the dean of the Faculty of Law, McGill University, reviews the British law of blasphemy. He finds that the Bowman decision was unsuccessful in restating the law of blasphemy. Is there no alternative but to punish blasphemy as it tends to breach the peace?
Lee, Robert E. A. "Censorship: A Case History." Christian Century, 74:163-65, 6 February 1957. L139
An officer of Lutheran Church Productions, which made the film Martin Luther, discusses efforts to ban the film. He cites, as a by-product of the controversy, "the encouragement to claim and defend freedom to think and speak and choose according to one's conscience."
Leeds, Josiah W. Common Weal vs. the News-Stand. [Philadelphia, 1894]. 16p. (Reproduced from the Christian Statesman, 13 January 1894) L140
Appeal to newsdealers and booksellers to exclude from sale dime novels and such "trash." Noting train robberies are on the increase, the author suggests that "express companies refuse to act as carriers of train robbery and like literature, and let them and all the affiliated railroad interests write in asking from Congress a bill excluding the debasing and brutalizing stuff from the mails."
-------. "The Relation of the Press and the Stage to Purity." In National Purity Congress. Papers, Addresses . . . First National Purity Congress . . . 1895. New York, American Purity Alliance, 1896, pp. 320-26. L141
Criticism of the press for publishing theater news and reviews, and for advertising the immoral stage.
Lees, Gladys L. "Censorship as It Affects the School Library." In A. H. Lancour, ed., School Library Supervisor. Chicago, American Library Association, 1956, pp. 39-51. L142
Lefebvre, Florent. The French-Canadian Press and the War. Translated and edited by J. A. Biggar and J. R. Baldwin. Toronto, Ryerson, 1940. 40p. (Contemporary Affairs no. 2) L143
"Legal History of the Problems Posed by the Publication of 'Obscene' Literature Traced--Protection of First and Fourteenth Amendments and Standards of Obscenity Discussed." New York Law Forum, 6:313-20, July 1960. L144
"Legal Presumptions [of Recklessness in Use of Fictitious Name of Author and Publisher Ignorant of Fact That Plaintiff Bore Same Name]." Canada Law Journal, 46:319-23, 16 May 1910. L145
"Legal Techniques for Protecting Free Discussion in Wartime." Yale Law Journal, 51:798-819, March 1942. L146
Legality of Governmental Copyrighting Challenged by Leading Editors and Scholars. [Washington, D.C., M. B. Schnapper, et al., 1962]. 1p. Broadside. L147
Twenty-three editors, librarians, journalism professors, and civil liberties leaders condemn the practice of copyrighting government publications as contrary to the guarantees of the First Amendment and to the specific provisions of copyright law. "Anyone who has the right to copyright has the legal right to restrict and censor." The petitioners urge the executive and legislative branches of the federal government to "take appropriate corrective action." The petition is an outgrowth of the agitation of M. B. Schnapper of Public Affairs Press.
Le Gallienne, Richard. "Limited Editions." In his Prose Fancies. New York, Putnam, 1894, pp. 119-25. L148
Le Gallienne, in this whimsical essay, views publishers of limited editions as malthusians who restrict careless procreation. No book should be brought into the world, he believes, which is not sure of love and lodging on some comfortable shelf.
[Legate, Bartholomew]. "Anglicans and Dissenters under James I; a Text without Note or Comment [relating to Bartholomew Legat, who was Burned for Heresy at Smithfield, in 1612]." British Review, 5:208-12, 1914. L149
[-------, and Edward Wightman]. "Cases against Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman for Heresy, 1612." In Howell, State Trials, vol. 3, pp. 727-42. L150 §
Legate and Wightman were burned to death in 1612 for their heretical and blasphemous opinions on Church doctrine. Legate was the last person to be burned in London, Wightman the last to die in England for religious beliefs and writings. Case abstracted in Schroeder's Constitutional Free Speech, pp. 181-85.
Leggett, Robert D. "Motion Picture Censorship." University of Cincinnati Law Review, 23:259-63, Spring 1954. L151
Notes on Superior Films, Inc. v. Department of Education of the State of Ohio and Commercial Pictures Corp. v. Regents of the University of the State of New York, 74 Sup. Ct. 286 (1954).
Leggett, William. Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett, Selected and Arranged, with a Preface by Theodore Sedgwick, Jr. New York, Taylor & Dodd, 1840. 2 vols. L152
Volume two, pp. 7-27, contains letters and editorials on postal and other suppressions of abolitionist literature.
"Legislative Measures in India for Restraining the Freedom of the Press." Jurist; or, Quarterly Journal of Jurisprudence and Legislation, 1:74, 1827. L153
An essay on the history of censorship in India.
Léglise, Paul. "Censorship: A Double-Edged Weapon." UNESCO Courier, 16(4):28-32, April 1963. L154
Consideration of industry efforts to control production of films to prevent governments from applying censorship. How such systems work in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and a number of Latin American countries. Special reference to protection of youth, including positive efforts made by the International Centre of Films for Children in Brussels, under the sponsorship of UNESCO.
Legman, Gershon. The Horn Book; Studies in Erotic Folklore and Bibliography. New Hyde Park, N.Y., University Books, 1964. 565p. L155
A group of bibliographical articles "sampling and describing at length some of the more typical but elusive masterpieces of erotic literature in various languages." Contents: The Bibliography of Prohibited Books (Pisanus Fraxi), The Horn Book and Other Bibliographical Problems, Great Collectors of Erotica, The Rediscovery of Burns' Merry Muses of Caledonia, and a series of articles on erotic folklore including the bawdy song, the limerick, and erotic humor. References are made throughout to incidents of censorship including action of the U.S. Customs and the Post Office.
-------. Love and Death, a Study in Censorship. New York, Breaking Point, 1949. 95p. (2d ed. New York, Hacker Art Books, 1963) L156
Legman discusses literary sadism which he believes is intensified by censorship of sex expression. "His motif," writes Eric Larrabee, "is the shameful anomaly of American mores which make love, which is legal in fact, illegal on paper, while murder, which is illegal in fact, is not only legal on paper but the basis of the greatest publishing successes of all time." The substitution of sadism for prohibited sex in the entertainment arts will lead to the "most sinister abnormalization of the whole psychic structure of future generations."
Lehman, Milton. "Who Censors Our Movies?" Look, 18:86-92, 16 April 1954. L157
"The U.S. Supreme Court and Hollywood itself re-examine old taboos, good as well as bad, as the chaotic question of film censorship receives nationwide attention." Discusses types of censors movies must satisfy: (1) legal censors in some 50 cities and 7 states, (2) pressure groups, and (3) the industry's own Production Code.
Lehmann, Leo H. "The Catholic Church in Politics." New Republic, 97:34-36, 16 November 1938; 97:64-66, 23 November 1938; 97:94-96, 30 November 1938; 97:122-25, 7 December 1938. L158
The first article in the series deals with The Church and Freedom of Speech; the second and third with Censorship by the Church; the fourth with Church and Social Legislation (including birth control information); and the final article with The Church and Some Social Issues.
Lehrer, Tom. "Smut." In That Was the Year That Was, TW3 Songs & Other Songs of the Year. New York, Reprise Records, 1965. Side one, 3:15. (Reprise Records R-6179) L159 §
A humorous and irreverent song in behalf of pornography and opposed to censors and censorship.
Leigh, Robert D. "Intellectual Freedom." ALA Bulletin, 42:363-69, 1 September 1948. L160 §
Discusses the ways in which librarians can, as a group, meet the pressures of censorship. Address at American Library Association convention, 15 June 1948
-------. "Problems of Freedom." In Lyman Bryson, Communication of Ideas. New York, Harper, 1949, pp. 197-208. L161
An analysis of the factors involved in creating a free and responsible press. Based on the author's experience as director of the Commission on Freedom of the Press.
[Leighton, Alexander]. An Epitome or Brief Discovery from the Beginning to the End of the Great Troubles that Dr. Leighton Suffered in His Body, Estates, and Family, Wherein Is Laid Down the Cause of Those Sufferings, Namely, that Book Called Sion's Plea Against Prelacie. London, 1646. L162
The trials of Dr. Leighton are reported in Schroeder, Constitutional Free Speech, pp. 194-207.
[-------]. "Proceedings in Star-Chamber against Him for Publishing An Appeal to the Parliament, or Sion's Plea against Prelacie, 1630." In Howell, State Trials, vol. 3, pp. 383 ff, and Rushworth, Historical Collections . . ., part 2, pp. 55-58. L163 §
For his pamphlet criticizing the English clergy as "anti-Christian and satanical," Dr. Leighton, a physician and divine, was tried before the Star Chamber Court and found guilty without being permitted to appear in person or to speak in his own behalf. He was degraded from the ministry, pilloried, whipped, one ear was cut off, his nose split, his face branded, and he was imprisoned at the king's pleasure. He was eventually released by the Long Parliament and honored for his martyrdom.
[-------]. Whereas Alexander Leighton, a Scottish-man borne . . . Printing and publishing a very Libellous and Scandalous Booke . . . escaped out of the Prison of the Fleete . . . he hath a yellowish Beard, a high Forehead, betweene forty and fifty yeeres of age. Dated this eleuenth of November. 1630. [London, 1630]. Broadside. (STC 8967) L164
Leipold, L. E. "Parent Fears about Books Pupils Read in Class and Library." Clearing House, 30:36-37, September 1955. L165
Leiter, Bernard K. "How Harrell Beat the Censor." Grassroots Editor, 6(3):14-15, 32, July 1965. L166 §
During the Civil War the editor of the Cairo, Ill., Gazette beat the military censor who demanded submission of all copy in advance of publication, by inundating him with "massive rolls of matter" that he had no intention of publishing.
Lemon, Courtney. Free Speech in the United States. New York, Free Speech League, [1917]. 11p. (Reprinted from Pearson's Magazine, December 1916) L167
So far as free speech in the United States is concerned "our only advantage is the possession of a rhetorical tradition of freedom to which appeal can be made in the fight to establish those rights which the average American citizen fondly imagines himself to possess, but which do not in fact exist." Free speech in the United States is curtailed by (1) acts of state legislatures, (2) court usurpations, (3) police outrages, (4) postal legislation and rulings, and (5) vice societies.
L'Engle, Madeleine. "The Mystery of the First Law of Thermodynamics." Library Journal, 89:4851-54, 15 December 1964. L168 §
Many of the books which fill our bookstores and library shelves "are afraid of the mysterious, leave nothing to our imagination, and try to break the first law of thermodynamics" (energy and heat are mutually convertible, but if you get heat you lose energy and vice versa). In the "climate of mystery, passion can flourish far more strongly than in the clinical glare of the laboratory." The reader searching for pornography is "not unlike dope addicts looking for a cheap jag . . . something for nothing." The author believes that librarians, through person to person communication and concern "can help to control the influx of trading stamp sex, not through censorship or in manipulation. . . . It is in the meeting of human beings that we find our answer to censorship; it is the meeting of persons that provides an influence that is free and vital and that speaks far more loudly and truthfully than pressure groups trying to impose their own opinions and imperatives."
Lenin, V. S. "On the Freedom of the Press." Labour Monthly, 7:35-37, January 1925. (First published in 1917) L169
"The capitalists. . . define 'freedom of the Press' as the suppression of the censor and the power for every party to publish newspapers as they please. In reality that is not freedom of the Press, but freedom for the rich, for the bourgeoisie, to deceive the oppressed and exploited masses of the people." State monopoly of newspaper advertising is the only solution.
LeQueux, William T. Britain's Deadly Peril. Are We Told the Truth? London, S. Paul, 1915. 176p. L170
The peril of wartime government censorship.
Lerner, Max. "On Lynching a Book." In his Public Journal. New York, Viking, 1945, pp. 131-34. (Reprinted in Downs, The First Freedom, pp. 209-10) L171 §
Deals with the Massachusetts Strange Fruit case in which Bernard DeVoto precipitated a test case in Cambridge, Mass. The bookseller's conviction for selling a copy to DeVoto was upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, thus affirming that state's rigid censorship laws. This article is followed by Cartels in Ideas, pp. 134-37.
Lesher, Dean. "What do the Espionage and Sedition Acts Forbid?" Journal of the State Bar of California, 17:204-13, July-August 1942. L172
A California newspaper publisher reviews the historical background of legislation and court decisions relating to wartime sedition. He believes that limitations on a free press should be strictly construed even in time of war. He notes a calmer, sounder approach to the problems in World War II than in World War I.
"The Lesion of Decency." Ramparts, 4:3-4, September 1965. L173
An editorial criticism of the Legion of Decency, suggesting the following minimum requirements be accepted by this Catholic agency: (1) that the issue is clear-cut, (2) that the approach to the issue is tenable within their house, and (3) that they make no false claims with respect to precisely whom they represent.
Leslie, Shane. "The Suppression of a Book." Bookman, 66:181-84, October 1927. L174
A satirical description of the author's feelings when his novel, The Contab, was tried in London for obscenity. The novel, an account of the author's life at Cambridge, included the "hopeless confusion in religious and sexual questions" the English undergraduate feels.
"Lesson for Liberals." Nation, 175:121-22, 16 August 1952. L175
Editorial concerning the dismissal of James A. Wechsler, editor of the New York Post, from the television program "Starring the Editors," because the Journal American had exposed his membership in the Young Communist League in his college days. Wechsler's 15-year record of anticommunism was disregarded. The writer believes the Post's anti-McCarthyism crusade precipitated the attack.
L'Estrange, Roger. Considerations and Proposals in Order to the Regulation of the Press; together with Diverse Instances of Treasonous and Seditious Pamphlets, Proving the Necessity Thereof. London, Printed by A. C., 1663. 33p. L176
"Roger L'Estrange has won a notoriety for his harsh proceedings as 'Surveyor of the Imprimery and Printing Presses,' an office to which he was appointed shortly after the appearance of this pamphlet. It is stated therein that the number of presses at the time, amounting to sixty, is unnecessary and dangerous; only twenty ought to be licensed. Much more stringent rules were proposed for the regulation of printers than had previously been in force; among them one to the effect 'that no printing-house be permitted with a back door to it.' The surveyor of the press was to have the right to search at any time, and printers guilty of publishing objectionable books were to be punished with 'death, mutilation, imprisonment, corporal peyns (torture)', as well as minor penalties; such as the pillory, whipping, branding, &c." (Bigmore and Wyman. A Bibliography of Printing, vol. 1, p. 434.) L'Estrange was appointed surveyor of the press by Charles II in 1663 and exercised dictatorial powers over the English press for almost 20 years.
-------. A Memento. Treating, of the Rise, Progress, and Remedies of Seditious: with some Historical Reflections upon the Series of Our late Troubles. 2d ed. London, Reprinted for Joanna Brome, 1682. 138p. (First printed 1642) L177
Seditions arise from seven interests--the Church, the Bench, the Court, the Camp, the City, the Country, and the Body Representative. L'Estrange discusses the nature of each and methods of prevention. Largely a classification of heresies.
[-------]. A Modest Plea both for the Caveat and the Author of It. London, 1661 L178
L'Estrange protests the prevalence of seditious opinion in the press and urges action against offending printers. This brochure led to L'Estrange being appointed in 1663 to exercise the controls on printing that he recommended. There are references to action taken against the Baptist publisher, Livewell Chapman, and others in the publication of The Phoenix of the Solemn League and Covenant. This is also referred to in L'Estrange's Truth and Loyalty Vindicated (1662).
-------. Notes upon Stephen College. Grounded Principally upon his own Declarations and Confessions. And Freely submitted to Publique Censure. 2d ed. London, Printed for Joanna Brome, 1681. 48p. L179
In defense of the sentence on College.
A Seasonable Memorial in Some Historical Notes upon the Liberties of the Presse and Pulpit; with the Effects of Popular Petitions, Tumults, Associations, Impostures, and Disaffected Common Councils. London, Printed for H. Brome, 1680. 37p. L180
A defense of the abridgment of freedom of the press and speech by the official English censor. Unlicensed printing (the Licensing Act had been allowed to expire) could lead to the collapse of established religion and the constituted authority of the State. L'Estrange considered the revealing of corruption in government as the first step in a dangerous evolution that ends in treason against Church and State.
-------. Toleration Discuss'd; in two Dialogues; I. Betwixt a Conformist, and a Non-Conformist; Laying open the Impiety, and Danger of a General Liberty. II. Betwixt a Presbyterian, and an Independent; Concluding, upon an Impartial Examination of their Respective Practices, and Opinions, in Favor of the Independents. 3d ed. London, Printed for H. Brome, 1681. 164p. L181
-------. A Word Concerning Libels and Libellers . . . London, Printed for Joanna Brome, 1681. 13p. L182
L'Estrange reviews the precedent in the libel cases against Richard Baldwin, Richard Janeway, John Starkey, Langley Curtis, and Henry Care, noting the points of law involved in each.
Lethbridge, Sir Roper. "Government Relations with the Press: an Indian Precedent." Nineteenth Century, 83:403-11, February 1918. L183
The author describes the creation of the Press Commissionership in India by Lord Lytton in 1877, and suggests that such a position would serve Britain in wartime.
Letourneau, Jean. "Freedom of Information." Vital Speeches, 14:538-40, 15 June 1948. L184
The chief of the French delegation to the United Nations Conference on Freedom of Information presents the French conception of worldwide freedom of the press.
A Letter of Consolation to Dr. Shebbeare. [London, 1758?]. 44p. L185
John Shebbeare was an English physician and political writer whose Sixth Letter to the People of England in 1758 caused his arrest and trial for seditious libel. Dr. Shebbeare had attributed the calamities of England to the House of Hanover. He was convicted and sentenced by Judge Mansfield, who ruled that satires on dead kings were punishable by three years in prison. The anonymous writer of this pamphlet believes the doctor should rejoice at the mildness of his fate; for much less serious libels under the Stuarts, whom Shebbeare praises, he might have lost his head. The writer reviews the numerous convictions for seditious libel prior to the accession of the Hanovers. Shebbeare had served an earlier sentence for writing a novel, The Marriage Act, that had been critical of Parliament.
"A Letter to a Censor." Survey, 54:107-8, 15 April 1925. L186
An "open-letter" to the censor whom he addresses: "Unhappy man: People do not make sex. Sex makes people. . . . I hope you won't try to censor sex out of life." Is there some way, he asks, of doing away with the nasty commercial pornography without giving the censor the power to destroy new ideas and useful discussions of sex? If we err, it should always be on the side of liberty.
A Letter to a Great Man; Concerning the Liberty of the Press. London, J. Wilford, 1729. 14p. L187
The "great man" is Sir Robert Walpole. The author cautions the government against striking out against critics by restraining the press. "The Fall of this one particular Instance of Liberty, will soon be followed by the Fall of Others." Even if the government "should hang or starve all the Printers in England, I shall find means to convey it [ideas] to future ages."
A Letter to a Member of Parliament, Shewing the Necessity of Regulating the Press . . . With A Particular Answer to the Objections that of late have been Advanced against it. Oxford, George West and Henry Clements, 1699. 71p. L188
Written anonymously in answer to Mathew Tindal's A Letter to a Member of Parliament, Shewing that a Restraint On the Press Is inconsistent with the Protestant Religion. The author argues that it is the duty of the magistrate to control the press in order to protect the church from attacks, and recommends the reenactment of a licensing law.
A Letter to Sir Charles Forbes, Bart., M.P. on the Suppression of Public Discussion in India and the Banishment, without Trial, of Two British Editors from that Country by the Acting Governor-General, Mr. Adam. By a Proprietor of India-Stock. London, 1824. 48p. (Pamphleteer, vol. 24, no. 47) L189
Letter to the Archibishop of Canterbury concerning Persecution for Religion and Freedom of Debate. London, J. Peel, 1732. 56p. L190
Persecutions in any degree are contrary to the Gospel; debate about religion is "not only consistent with Christianity, but recommended in the New Testament, as previously necessary before we can arrive at a certainty of Truth."
A Letter to the Right Honourable the Earls of Egremont and Halifax, His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, on the Seizure of Papers. London, J. Williams, 1763. 31p. L191
Relates to the John Wilkes case.
Letters on the Subject of the Proper Liberty of the Press. By An Englishman. First Published in the Paper of the World. London, Reprinted for P. Byrne, etc., 1790. 58p. L192
A sharply worded criticism of the judgment of Lord Mansfield in libel cases, stated in a series of nine letters, dedicated to the "Jurors of Dublin who defended Freedom of the Press." Lord Mansfield's intention, wrote the author, "was simply to maintain power, and to act as a Soldier for the Crown; and in doing this, he became lost in a labyrinth of absurdity." The maxim he left was that truth is a libel. "In the wide, and dark, and troubled Ocean of what is now demonstrated to be Libel, nothing can be said in private, nothing can be written of living or even dead persons, but what may be liable to this objection. If History be not impeached, if Epitaphs be not prosecuted, and Religious Discourses be not arraigned at the Bar, it is carelessness that passes them over--for as the law now stands--Every Human thing, that is not Panegyric, is indictable."
Letters to the Marquis of Hastings, on the Indian Press; with an Appeal to Reason and the British Parliament, on the Liberty of the Press in General; by a Friend to Good Government. London, J. M. Richardson, 1824. 120p. L193 §
Argues forcefully for a free press as the best protection against sedition, and applies the argument to British India.
"Levels of Freedom." Times Literary Supplement, 3198:445, 14 June 1963. L194
Mostly about French and German censorship, but also about South Africa, and is intended to show a comparison with England.
Levenson, Joseph. "Censorship of the Movies." Forum, 69:1404-14, April 1923. (Reprinted in Rutland, State Censorship of Motion Pictures, pp. 81-92) L195
Supports regulatory legislation of movies "as an absolutely necessary, part of the government of civilized countries. "The great power of the cinema in moulding thought, particularly among young people, makes censorship necessary. The author refutes the various arguments advanced in opposition to movie censorship, noting that nowhere has movie regulatory legislation, once enacted, been repealed.
Levien, Sonya. "New York's Motion Picture Law." American City, 9:319-21, October 1913. L196
The educational secretary of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures describes what she considers a model motion picture ordinance: the New York law for regulating movie theaters, passed in 1913. While the law has to do mostly with fire control and other physical facilities, it also gives discretionary power to the License Bureau to preserve the moral tone of the performance.
Levin, Arthur. "Censorship Now?--No!" Scribner's Commentator, 10:85-89, September 1941. L197
The author fears a licensed press during wartime. He reviews censorship laws enacted during the last war and new controls of public opinion added since; he calls upon newspapers and the public to maintain vigilance to prevent any further infringement on free speech and free press and to oppose any attempt to exercise those powers already granted the administration.
Levin, Bernard. "Lady's Not for Burning." Spectator, 205:677-8, 4 November 1960. L198
An account of the Lady Chatterley's Lover trial in England, the first case to be brought against a serious work under the Obscene Publications Act of 1958.
-------. "Very Dirty Books." Spectator, 205:270-71, 19 August 1960. L199
In anticipation of action against Penguin Books for publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover, the author suggests the American court decisions in the Ulysses case might be cited as "noble judicial dicta."
-------. "Why All the Fuss?" Spectator, 202:32-33, 9 January 1959. L200
About publishing Lolita in England. "No intelligent person . . . can any longer seriously believe in the corrupting power of a book like Lolita. Can it seriously be maintained that if it were published numbers of middle-aged men would take to seducing twelve-year-old girls? And, if not . . . why all the fuss?"
Levin, Harry. "The Unbanning of the Books." Atlantic Monthly, 217(2):77-81, February 1966. L201
"As the courts free more and more books from the contraband shelf, there is not much left in literature that can consistently be banned, says Harvard professor and literary critic Harry Levin. Here he assesses what the new candor in literature could mean to the critic and to the reader."
Levin, Harvey J. Broadcast Regulation and Joint Ownership of Media. New York, New York University Press, 1960. 208p. L202
Discussion of the public policy and economic questions raised by joint ownership of radio, television, and newspapers.
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