Understanding technology regulation through history: insights from the legal history of the printing press and copyright in early modern England

Studying legal history is crucial for understanding both the past and present of technology regulation, as past societies confronted challenges similar to those we face today. However, the scarcity of such studies in the existing literature highlights the need for a deeper exploration of how technology has historically shaped the legal framework.This article addresses this gap by examining the legal history of the printing press in early modern England. I analyse the legal responses to the printing press from the late fifteenth to the early eighteenth century, drawing on both legal history and Braudel’s longue durée approach. In doing so, I identify four key characteristics of technology regulation during this period: initial support followed by increasing constraints, regulation driven by interactions among interest groups, the necessity of disruptive externalities for corrective action and the influence of economic power in shaping regulatory landscape.I argue that these characteristics offer two crucial insights for the history of technology regulation. First, influencing technology regulation required both economic power and a direct stake in the technology; second, the involvement of diverse interest groups was essential to mitigate potential complications.