Note 84 — Chapter II · OPPOSITION TO THE WAR WITH GERMANY
Reading edition
The Defense of the Realm Consolidation Act, 1914, 5 Geo. 5, c. 8, § 1, gives His Majesty in Council power “to issue regulations.” A very wide scope is given to this power by the House of Lords in Rex v. Halliday (1917) A. C. 260, Lord Shaw of Dunfermline dissenting. See 31 Harv. L. Rev. 296. Regulation 27 of the Orders in Council makes various forms of speech, writing, etc., offenses. Regulation 51 A provides for the seizure of publications on warrant, and Regulation 56 (13) for the punishment of press offenses. See Pulling, Defense of the Realm Manual, revised monthly. These regulations have been construed in Norman v. Mathews, 32 T. L. R. 303, 369 (1915); Fox v. Spicer, 33 T. L. R. 172 (1917); Rex v. Bertrand Russell, infra, note 114. The practical effect has been to establish an administrative censorship. H. J. Laski, Authority in the Modern State, 101.