PRINTERS, LAW AS TO. There were various restrictions on the sale and use of printing-presses, which had been imposed in consequence of the extended and secret influence often exercised by them; and the law of treason and libel is intimately associ ated with the press. By an act of 32 and 33 Vict. c. 24, which altered several older acts passed in the reign of George III. for suppressing seditious and treasonable practices. reciting the mischief produced by the publication of irreligious, treasonable, and sedi tious libels, and the difficulty of tracing them, it is not now law that every person having a printing-press; or types for printing, shall give notice thereof to the clerk of the peace the same is intended to be used. and shall obtain a certificate of registration, other wise be is liable to a penalty of £20. And the queen's printers for England and Scot land: and the university presses-of Oxford and Cambridge, were exempt. No letter founders and makers of types need register themselves under a like penalty, and need not keep an account of all the persons to whom types and presses are sold,which account may be inspected by a justice of time peace. But printers must keep a copy of every paper they print for hire or reward, and shall indorse thereon the name of the person employing them to do so, under a penalty of kl20_ Every printer who shall print a book or paper without baring the printer's name and address on the first or last leaf thereof, shall, by the act 32 and 33 Vict. c. 24, forfeit £5 for every copy printed; but the only
person who can sue for or enforce this penalty is the attorney or solicitor general of England, or the lord-advocate of Scotland. And any proceedings to enforce the statutes in the name of other persons are absolutely void. law is thus changed that a printer cannot recover his expenses for labor and materials in printing a work, unless he has complied with the statutory requirements. Ou a recent occasion, in which a printer in England who sued for his account was met with a defense founded on these statutes, it was discovered by the London printers that few of them had registered themselves; and such law is now repealed altogether. With regard to the printing trade, many cus toms prevail which do not differ in point of law from the customs affecting other trades, it being the rule that customs of a peculiar trade are binding unless specially excluded..
to obscene prints, see OBSCENE.