Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/485

* CENSORSHIP. 415 CENSUS. seniicivilizoj or loss advaiici'tl jiiUions of to-day; thus, in liussia the conduct and acts of the peo- ple are subject to rigid ruh's and restrictions which arc enforced by officials of arbitrary au- thority. In France, also, the authority of the agent dc niaiirs reaches to such nnitters as the supervision of the public spending of money be- yond one's means. Sumptuary laws belong some- what to the same class as those creatinj; censor- ships of private conduct, and tliese have existed from time to time during the history of nianj- modern civilized nations. See Simpti ahy Laws. The advance of civilization and the develo])- ment of the idea of the right to personal liljerty is doing away with tlie censorship of private con- duct in all of the civilized races; and the censor- ship of the press an<l of the drama are the most important relics of this class of public supervi- .sion of private conduct. The censorship of the press was intended to prevent the iniblication and ellect of literature supposed or believed to contain matter likely to corrupt morals or be subversive of the govern- ment. It came into existence with the invention of the printing-press, although in all despotic governments in the history of man writings of- fensive to the Government have been suppressed or destroyed, and in many cases the author pun- ished as well, for the same motives as those which gave rise to the censorship of the press and of the drama. Literary censorship was rigidly maintained by the Roman Catholic Chuich as early as the year 1515, and ail books published within its control were subjected to the strictest examination and expurgation or suppression when deemed necessary. (See Index and Vati- c.vN.) The censorship of the press in England was strictly enforced as early as 1U37 by order of the Star Chamber, which order was estab- lished by statute in 1G02. It was against this statute that Milton wrote his Arcopagitica, and the censorship was abolished in 1603. In France the censorship which had existed since the inven- tion of the art of printing was abolished in 1789, and revived at intervals until 1830, when it was tinally abolished. With the growth of the con- stitutional government in the States of modern Europe the censorship of the press has been abol- ished. For a fuller discussion and treatment of the subject, see Fkeedom of the Press. Censorship of dramatic productions is based upon the necessity of protecting the ])ublic from the influence of immoral plays. This is accom- plished in the United States by the law which enables any public immorality to be suppressed as soon as an overt act has been committed, which can be shown to be an offense ag-ainst pub- lic morals. In England, however, a censorship of the stage exists under the provisions of 6 and 7 Vict., c. 68. Formerly, in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries, the performance of plays was controlled by the Master of Revels and the Lord Chamberlain; and the statute 10, George II., c. 28, defined and established the duties and powers of the Lord Chamberlain in this capacity, t'nder this statute his powers were restricted as to their territorial limits: but by the statute 6 and 7 Vict, his jurisdiction is extended (by section 12) to the whole United Kingdom. Chap- t<>r 68 of this statute provides that one copy of every new stage play, every new act, scene, part, prologue, or epilogue, of a play, intended to be acted for hire at any theatre in Great Britain should l>e sent seven days previous to the Lord Chamberlain for his allowance, and he may license or refuse to license its production, and may revoke a license already granted, and forbid the production of the play whenever it appears to hiui advantageous for the preservation of good morals or dcccTicy or to preserve public ])eace. llis autliority is e.xercised upon the recommenda- tion of his reader. He has no authority to license playhouses. This is vcste<l in the County Council, who may delegate it to one of the jus- tices of the peace, who formerly exercised it. See The Lair Magazine and I.air Rciirii-. 19, 220. Something akin to censorship is to be found in the statutory and administrative restrictions on the use of tlie mails for the circulation of gam- bling and fraudulent circulars and obscene pub- lications. The i)r<)tection of the public, there- fore, from wrongful puljllcalions is, in general, left in Great Britain and the United States to the enforcement of the laws protecting public and individual rights from violation: and so, the circumstances under which a publication is made may be such that the publisher may be enjoined by the court from further publication of the same matter, if this be necessary for the protec- tion of violated rights. "here a territory or country is under martial law censorship of the i)ress by the military au- thorities is commonly exercised in all countries, so far as it is considered necessary by the mili- tary authorities. See CoPTRiGHT; Libel; News- paper: ilARTiAL Law. CENSUS (Lat., registration, from censere, to assess, to judge). The familiar use of the word census is to denote the periodical counting of the people, and this is its primary meaning. As the census of population has been usually accom- panied by comprehensive investigations into agriculture, manufactures, etc., the term has come to be employed for any statistical investi- gation which jjroceeds by the method of direct interrogation. Used in tliis broad way the name census designates one of the two methods of .statistical research, the other being registration. Census and registration are not interchangeable, but one is frequently used as a substitute for the other. A census portrays conditions at a given time, a register the changes which take place. As two successive censuses by comi)arison show the resultant of these changes, we can, under certain circmnstances, hy summing np the changes, arrive at the general condition of affairs without a direct enumeration. Antecedents of the Census. — The origin of the .mcrican census in the well-known constitu- tional provision that re])resentation and direct taxation should be proportional to population, suggests the intimate connection between census operations and government necessities. That similar necessities in early days gave rise to enumerations of the jienple will be readily understood. We find references to counting the people in our accounts of ancient peoples like the Hebrews and the Romans. China' and .Japan also have records of very early enumerations. These records seetn to have been undertaken for fiscal or militar>' purposes, to establish the ownership of landed property or to determine military contingents, and involved a count of the people not as the main issue but as an incident. In this they diflfercd from the census operations of today.