Subsérie 17 - Records relating to search and seizure

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The Charter granted to the Stationers by Philip and Mary in 1557 laid down that the Master and Wardens of the Company had the right to search the houses and business premises of all printers, bookbinders and booksellers in the kingdom for any printed matter, to seize and confiscate anything printed contrary to any statute or proclamation, and to imprison anyone who printed without the proper qualification or resisted their search. Offenders could be held in jail for up to three months without trial, and were fined £5, half of which went to the Crown and half to the Company. The right of search and seizure was retained by the Company throughout the rest of that century and the following one. The lapse of the Licensing of the Press Act inn 1695, and Parliament's decision not to renew it, effectively ended this form of censorship, significantly diminishing the Stationers' powers.