1865 "Temporary Rules for Press Affairs"

150 years ago, on April 18, 1865, the Provisional Rules for the Press were adopted, significantly limiting prior censorship. Under this law, censorship remained only for pamphlets and short essays. Books over 160 pages for Russian and over 320 pages for translated editions could be published without censorship. Book publishers were liable to the courts if they found anything illegal in the books. Magazines and newspapers could also be published without special permission from the authorities. If anything illegal was found in them, then a warning was announced to the publication. After the third warning, the publication was banned.