Art. 53. Attacks on private persons will be punished with imprisonment of from one month to one year or a fine of from 50 to 2,000 lei.

CHAPTER II.-General Provisions.

Art. 54. No person may be punished for reproducing any statement actually made in Parliament or for reproducing documents, &c., printed by order of Parliament.

Art. 55. It may be difficult to reproduce the exact speeches made at debates held in Parliament; journalists should, however, before sending in their accounts, eliminate any inaccuracies of an injurious nature. They must also publish in the next edition any amendment at the request of one of the speakers. Failure to do this will be punished by a fine of from 500 to 2,000 lei and second offences by imprisonment of from ten days to one year.

Art. 56. No responsibility for libel will attach to the authors. of articles reporting on lawsuits or reproducing contents of papers presented to the Law Courts.

Art. 57. Reproduction of the proceedings of libel cases is prohibited when the sentence is not given in favour of the plaintiff. Infringement of this Article will be punished in accordance with Article 55.

Art. 58. Public subscriptions are prohibited which have as their object the payment of damages in the shape of fines or expenses imposed by the application of this law. If such subscriptions be opened, the guilty parties are liable to imprisonment of one month to one year and a fine of from 100 to 1,000 lei. Art. 59. A member of Parliament signing an article in a newspaper or periodical will be liable to similar punishment.

Art. 60. Press offences are judged by jury except the following, which will be judged by ordinary tribunals according to Common Law.

(a.) Attacks on the Sovereign and Royal Family, Heads of Foreign States and their Representatives.

(b.) Encouragement of assassination and rebellion, and libel.

Art. 61. The accused author or editor will be summoned to appear before the tribunal for examination.

Art. 62. In the hearing of a suit for defamation of character or libel no person will be allowed to produce charges except against the single public official concerned or against such persons who have been employed in a public position. In such cases the facts imputed may be substantiated by proof before the competent Court without let or hindrance, and proofs may be produced in defence. If the accusations are substantiated the instigator is exempt from any liability of punishment, and on the other hand the refutation of the charges does not exempt him from the penalties liable in such cases.

Art. 63. The proof of witnesses shall not be accepted in any attempt to deny the facts imputed, when once the case has received sentence.

Art. 64. Abrogated by Articles 593 and 594 of the Penal Code. Art. 65. The Minister of Justice will prepare the necessary regulations for the application of this law.

RUSSIA.

REGULATIONS OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIES REGARDING PRIVATE PUBLISHING OFFICES.

Decree of December 12, 1921 (No. 80, Article 685).

1. PRIVATE publishing offices are to observe the following regulations:

2. The permission of "Gosizdat" (the State Publishing Department) or of the corresponding local organ is necessary for the establishment of a publishing office; the corresponding local organ must immediately communicate this permission to “Gosizdat" for confirmation.

The

3. Publishing offices may possess their own printing works, offices, editorial and other rooms, stores, shops, &c., and likewise lease the same from the Government or from private owners in accordance with the established rules in this connection. purchase or lease of printing works may only be carried out with the permission of the Supreme Council of National Economy and with the approval of "Gosizdat" and of the Central Committee of Printing Workers (regulation of the Council of Labour and Defence of the 28th September, 1921).

4. Publishing offices may produce books, pictures and other printed matter abroad and import the same into Russia, observing the laws and rules in force regarding the import of goods from abroad and with the permission, in each case, of "Gosizdat."

5. Publishing offices have the right to sell printed matter which has been issued at their own expense and without subsidy from the State, at any price they fix. "Gosizdat" and its local branches have the right of first purchase of the whole of an edition or part thereof at an agreed price not above the wholesale price.

6. Co-operative publishing offices are organised in the form of co-operative societies of authors, or of mixed associations consisting of authors, scientists and artists, in conjunction with workers in the printing and book trades.

7. All existing private publishing offices must be registered again in accordance with paragraph 2 of these regulations.

8. The issue of permission for the establishment of publishing offices and for the printing of manuscripts (see paragraph 9) is entrusted to "Gosizdat" and its local branches, and in places. where there are no such branches to the local Committee of Political Education, in accordance with a special instruction from the People's Commissary of Education.

9. Each manuscript, before being set up in type, must be passed by the organ mentioned in paragraph 8, and this permission must be printed in every printed book. Appeal against the decision of local organs may be made to the Editorial Committee of "Gosizdat."

10. Books issued without permission are confiscated and placed at the disposal of the State, and the publishers are committed for trial.

11. When manuscripts are submitted to the organs mentioned in paragraph 8, a fee is levied by the latter at the rate of 1 pre-war rouble for each printed sheet (40,000 types).

12. One per cent. of the number printed, but not less than ten copies, must be given free of charge to the organ granting permission; of these, half is sent immediately by the local organ to "Gosizdat."

Note. The copies mentioned in paragraph 12 do not include the numbers to be delivered for bibliographical purposes in accordance with the rules of the Council of People's Commissaries of the R.S.F.S.R. to "Gosizdat" (Collection of Laws, 1920, No. 65, Art. 289) and the instructions of the People's Commissariat for Education applying thereto.

13. The issue of educational literature is regulated by the ordinance of the Council of People's Commissaries of the 16th August, 1921 (Collection of Laws, No. 61, p. 430).

Moscow, Kremlin, December 12, 1921.

SERB-CROAT-SLOVENE KINGDOM.

ARTICLE 13 of the new Constitution (see below) deals in general terms with the freedom of the Press. No general Press Law for the whole country has yet been put in force, but in the autumn of 1921 certain emergency legislation was passed which, among other things, modifies the Serbian Press Law of 1904, and is applicable to the whole country. Otherwise the Austrian Press Laws still remain in force in the districts of this country which formerly formed part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

La presse est libre.

ARTICLE 13.

Aucune mesure préventive ne peut être prise pour empêcher la publication, la vente et la diffusion d'écrits et de journaux. La censure ne peut être établie qu'en temps de guerre ou de mobilisation et uniquement dans les cas prévus d'avance par la loi. Sont interdites la diffusion et la vente de journaux et imprimés contenant des outrages à l'adresse du Souverain ou des membres de la famille royale, des Chefs d'Etat étrangers, de l'Assemblée nationale; des appels directs aux citoyens pour changer par la force la Constitution ou les lois du pays; de graves atteintes à la morale

publique. Mais, dans ce cas, l'autorité est tenue, dans les vingtquatre heures qui suivent la saisie, de transmettre les objets saisis au Tribunal, qui doit, également dans les vingt-quatre heures, confirmer ou annuler la saisie.

Dans le cas contraire, la saisie sera considérée comme levée. Les tribunaux réguliers statuent sur les dommages-intérêts, indépendamment du jugement du tribunal sur l'annulation de la saisie.

Sont responsables pour les délits de presse: L'auteur, le rédacteur, l'imprimeur, l'éditeur, le propriétaire et le distributeur. Une loi spéciale sur la presse déterminera l'étendue et les modalités des responsabilités de ces personnes dans les délits commis. Tout délit de presse sera jugé par le tribunal ordinaire.

PRESS LAW OF JANUARY 12, 1904, WITH MODIFICATIONS AND ADDITIONS OF DECEMBER 9, 1904.

Interpreted and elucidated by decisions of the Court of Cassation. CHAPTER I.-General Provisions.

Article 1. Every Serbian has the right to express, within the limits of the law, his opinion in writing, in print or pictorially. (Vide Article 22 of the Constitution.)

Art. 2. No censorship, control, or other preventive measure may be instituted such as would prevent the publication, sale or distribution of writings or newspapers.

(Vide Article 22 of the Constitution, and Article 11 of the Press Law.)

Art. 3. The Press may never be subjected to administrative edicts.

(Vide Article 22 of the Constitution.)

Art. 4. A printing press, regarded as a business, comes under the regulations for professional establishments, but the bookselling trade is regulated by the Commercial Code.

(Vide Article 12 of the Law on Businesses.)

Art. 5. Under the provisions of the Press Law is comprehended all printed or pictorial matter printed by mechanical or chemical means, in any quantity for distribution.

From this category are excepted voting lists if they contain nothing further than the names of candidates, proposers or representatives; commercial notices, forms and so forth, such as may be necessary for commercial operations; obituary notices: invitations to dances and meetings, if they contain nothing other than a statement of those who are invited, of the day of the invitation, the place at which the meeting is to take place and the names of the conveners of the meeting; and, finally, matters exclusively for the use of editorial offices.

Art. 6. Printed matter published by mechanical or chemical means for distribution in any quantity must bear the name of the

place where printed, the name and address of the printer (artist, engraver). A book or other printed matter which does not appear as a periodical, but is adapted for distribution, must bear the name of the author or publisher.

The publisher may be the printing house itself.

Any contravention of the above will be punished by a fine of from 50 to 200 dinars, or from five to twenty days' imprisonment for each number, volume, book or exemplar.

If the defendant admit that the printing of the book was carried out in his printing works, then without regard to his assertion that the covers were printed in another printing press, and not in his own, the act comes under Article 6 of the Press Law by the fact that it cannot be seen from the book in what printing establishment it was printed, seeing that the accused, in entrusting the printed matter to another, was bound to fulfil the legal obligations enjoined upon him in regard to the publication of the matter in question, when printed in his printing press.

(Decision of the 19th March, 1912, No. 4103.)

Art. 7. The printer is bound, when publishing or distributing a newspaper or other periodical, to send a copy of each number to the local police authorities.

At the same time, within five days of publication at the latest, every printer, both public and private, must send to the National Library, through the Municipality of Belgrade or the local State police authorities, three copies of all matter printed or to be printed, with the exception of the cases referred to in the second paragraph of Article 5 of this law.

(Vide Article 25 of the Law regarding the National Libraries.) Anyone contravening the provisions of this article will be punished by a fine of from 20 to 200 dinars, or with from two to twenty days' imprisonment for each number, volume, issue, &c. (Vide Article 25 of the Law regarding the National Libraries.) Art. 8. The foregoing article applies in toto to reprints. (Vide Articles 5 and 7 of the Press Law.)

CHAPTER II.-Periodical Publications.

Section 1.-Publication, Editing and Advertisement.

Art. 9. Every journal (newspaper) and every periodical must have a responsible editor. The responsible editor must be a Serbian citizen, enjoying civil and political rights.

(Vide Article 22 of the Constitution.)

Whoever publishes or prints a journal (newspaper) or periodical, but who has not fulfilled the conditions laid down in this article, will be punished by a fine of from 300 to 1,800 dinars, or with from one to six months' imprisonment.

(Vide Article 22 of the Constitution, and Articles 10, 41 and 50 of the Press Law.)