Publish and be damned

Abstract

Ordinance No. IV of 1839 drafted by the Royal Commission of 1836, abolished 'censorship' and provided against 'abuses of the consequent liberty of publishing printed writings.' Before the said ordinance was enacted, printing was a Government monopoly. According to law, no trade or business could be exercised in Malta without a previous Government licence. By simply refusing to grant any licence to exercise the trade of printer, Government ensured that nothing was printed in Malta except at its own press and with its previous permission which could be withheld without any reason being given. Since Ordinance IV of 1839 censorship has never been reintroduced in Malta. However, the absence of legal restraint before publication is guaranteed by the Press Act of 1974 and not by our Constitution. Nevertheless, any system of prior restraints of expression comes to the court bearing a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity.