The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-07 00:00:00

THE TIT

S LAW,

CONSTANTINOPLE, Dec. 28.
The following is a summary of the new ordi-
nance concerning the press in Turkey :
Article 1 provides—That no journal whatever
shall be published in the empire without the pre-
viously-had authorisation of the Government.
Art. 2. That in the case of a native the demand
for this shall be addressed to the Minister of In-
struction ; and in that of a foreigner, to the Minis-
ter of Foreign Affairs.
Art. 3. That such authorisation shall only be
granted to natives of at least 30 years, of age, and
in the full enjoyment of their civil rights, and to
foreigners who shall submit themselves absolutely
to Turkish jurisdiction for all the purposes of this
I law.

Art. 4. That application for it shall be accom-
panied by a written declaration, signed by the
responsible conductor of the intended paper, indicat-
ing all its conditions of publication, &c. ; that a
copy of the journal, if in the provinces, shall be
sent to the local governor, if in the capital, to the
Bureau de la Presse ; and that every number of the
paper shall bear at its bottom the printed name of
the manager or proprietor.
Art. 5. That on the occasion of every transfer of
the paper to a new proprietor, the incoming owner
must obtain a new authorization.

Art. 6. That existing journals need not obtain
such authorisation, and are released from all
" warnings" they may hitherto have received ; they
are, however, in all other respects to be subjected
to the provisions of this new law.
Art. 7. That the signing manager shall be re-
sponsible for everything in the paper by whomsoever
written.
Art. 8.. That all communications received from
the Bureau de la Presse by the local provincial
authorities must be inserted gratis, as also must the
answer of any person mentioned in any article
published by the paper addressed,—the length of
space occupied by such answer not to be more than
double the length of the article which may have
provoked it.
Art. 9 Prohibits the entrance into the Empire
of any foreign publications hostile to the Turkish
Government.

These nine Articles constitute what are termed
the " general provisions" -of the law, and the re-
maining 26 comprise its " penal provisions," which
though inconveniently vague are, it will be seen,
both comprehensive and severe.
Art. 10 Provides that every publication issued
without authorisation shall be subject in the person
of its conductor to a fine of 10 liras (9/.) for each
number so published, and the paper itself shall be

suppressed.
Art. 11 Prescribes a fine of 10 liras for every
violation of Art. 4.
Art. 12 inflicts a fine of from to 10 liras for
every refusal to .publish the communications re-
ferred to in Art. 8, besides leaving the editor
liable to whatever judicial proceedings the incrimi-
nated article may justify.
Art. 13 pronounces liable to punishment (what
not stated) any one who may through the press
provoke the commission of any offence which is
recognised by the penal code as a " crime" or
" misdemeanour" (delit>: the offending journal
shall also be suppressed by the discretionary action
of the authorities.
Art. 14 punishes every offence against " public
morality," good manners, or any one of the re-
ligions or creeds professed in the Empire, with a
fine of from 1 to 25 liras, or with imprisonment
of from a week to three weeks.
Art. 15 inflicts a fine of from 25 to 100 liras,
or imprisonment of from six months to three
years, for offences against the person or autho-
rity of the Sultan, or against the members of the
Imperial family.
Art. 16 punishes offences against the Ministers of
the Porte or against its vassal princes with a price
of from 50 to 100 liras, or with imprisonment of
from 1 to 12 months.
Art. 17 protects " friendly and allied sovereigns"
against attack by a penalty of imprisonment of from
3 months to 3 years, or a fine of from 15 to 100
, liras.

Art. 18 declares every imputation on the " honour
or consideration" of the person or body against,
whom or which an allegation is made to be a " de-
famation," and every " outrageous expression, term
of contempt, or invective which insinuates the im-
putation of any fact," to be an " insult."
Art. 19 punishes either "defamation" or "injury',
against the tribunals or other constituted bodies of
the State with an imprisonment of from 15 days to
a year, or with a fine of from 2 to 50 liras.

Art. 20 visits the same offence against any agent
of the public authority with from 10 days to 10
months' imprisonment, or a fine of from 1 to 40
liras.

Art. 21 protects ambassadors, ministers, and other
diplomatic agents from " defamation" by a penalty
of from 8 days to 8 months' imprisonment, or by a
fine of from 1 to 30 liras.

Art. 22 forbids defamation of private persons
under peril of a fine of from 50 pias to 15 liras, or
of incarceration for 5 days or 5 months.
Art. 23 threatens the most absolute application
of these penalties in case of offence against persons
and depositaries of the public authority for facts
purely personal, unless the imputed facts can be
proved. This conditional immunity, however, is
still to be " without prejudice to penalties pro-
nounced against every insult addressed to these
persons. [Whatever this may mean, for the word-
ing of this article is most clumsy and unprecise.]
Art. 24 protects the parties mentioned in Arts.
30 and 21 from " insult" under penalty of impri-
sonment of from five days to five months, or a fine
of from 56 pias to 15 liras.
Art. 25 punishes the same offence committed
against private individuals, with incarceration for
from two days to two months, or with a fine of from
30 pias to 5 liras.
Art. 26 forbids the publication or reproduction,
" intentionally and in bad faith," of false news, and
of fabricated or falsified documents, under a penalty
of from one month's to one year's imprisonment, or
a fine of from 10 to 50 liras.

Art. 27 punishes offences under Arts. 15, 16, 17,
and 21 by administrative suspension for one month.
Art. 28 compels publication by the condemned
journal of all judgments pronounced against it as
also payment by it of the cost of such publication,
also in one or more other papers besides.

Art. 29 provides for the suspension or total sup-
pression of any paper which may have been con-
demned thrice within two years.
Art. 30 permits the continued publication of a
journal during the imprisonment of its editor, only
by some other gerant who submits to the law.
Art. 31 declares that press prosecutions shall take
place, except in the case of the Sultan or the impe-
rial family—when they are to be official—at the in-
stance of the aggrieved party.
Art. 32 creates a prescription of six months, from
the date of the offending article, within which the
prosecution must take place.
Art. 33 provides for the doubling of the previous
penalties in case of repetition of the offence.
Art. 34 appoints a commission of five persons
(all employes of the Porte) to decide on alleged
offences under Arts. 14, 15,16, 17, 19, 20, and 21, on
whose report the Grand Council is to pronounce the
penalty. Offences- against the other artices are to
be dealt with by the police.
Art. 35, and last, declares that this new law shall