Pre-publication censorship ceased after 1694 with the failure of Parliament to renew the Licensing Act (Siebert 1965: 260–3). From the mid-nineteenth century British and Irish newspapers were also freed from economic controls which had been imposed by successive governments since the early eighteenth century. Thereafter the number of newspapers produced grew considerably. Newspapers became the communications phenomenon of the age, provoking as much discussion, praise and criticism as has the internet in recent years (Jones 1996). During the nineteenth century the industry and its apologists claimed that the press was a vehicle of enlightenment and education, and a watchdog, guarding the public interest against the misuse of power by the executive – it was characterised as the Fourth Estate of the realm (Boyce 1978; Hampton 2004b). Whereas these developments have been the focus of a considerable volume of scholarly work, the industry's broader relationship with the law has been relatively neglected. Although this chapter focuses on newspapers, many of the issues raised related to press publications in general. The main focus of this chapter is on the law as it pertained to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and relates to arguments about regulation made in recent work of mine (O’Malley 2014).

This chapter discusses the established narrative of the struggle for British and Irish press freedom but seeks to broaden the focus by situating the press in the context of a wider set of legal relationships and developments, which, it is argued, gives a fuller, more nuanced perspective on the relationship between newspapers and society in the nineteenth century.

The first section outlines the framework of legal restraints governing newspapers, their gradual removal, and the debates about the causes and significance of these changes. The second section takes a broader view. It discusses the ways in which the press initiated and benefited from legal change, particularly in relation to the law of libel, while in other areas being restrained by new statutes. The third section explores the way the press represented the law to its readers, through the reporting of legal issues, in particular crime, and through campaigns to influence law making. This is followed by some concluding comments.