Editing Prior restraint (section)

===Blackstone and early views===
In [[William Blackstone]]'s ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England|Commentaries]]'' "Freedom of the Press" is defined as the right to be free from prior restraints. According to Blackstone, a person should not be punished for speaking or writing the truth with good motives and for justifiable ends.  Truth alone, however, was not considered a sufficient justification, if published with bad motives.

{{blockquote|The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state; but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published. Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public; to forbid this, is to destroy the freedom of the press; but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous or illegal, he must take the consequence of his own temerity. (4 Bl. Com. 151, 152.)}}

This view was the common legal understanding at the time the [[U.S. Constitution]] was adopted. Only later have the concepts of [[freedom of speech]] and [[freedom of the press|the press]] been extended (in the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], and other countries sharing their legal tradition) to protect honest error, or truth even if published for questionable reasons.{{cn|date=November 2023}}