The ratification of the Press Law by the first majles or parliament on February 8, 1908, marked a significant development in the history of censorship in Iran. The Press Law was a comprehensive set of fifty-two articles, inspired by the 1881 French press law, that covered all forms of expression and delineated the boundaries of what was permissible and impermissible to publish in print-media (whether books, newspapers, or announcements), and defined the responsibility of its distributors (whether bookstores, printing houses or newspaper peddlers). In regard to newspapers, while on the one hand, it listed the conditions that needed to be satisfied in order for an individual to obtain a license for the publication of a newspaper from the Ministry of Publication, on the other it outlined the red lines that a newspaper had to respect. Thus, the Press law was important not only because this was the very first time that what was fit to print was being regulated officially, but also because it was long-lasting, in that its provisions, by and large, remained on the books until 1952 when it was replaced by the Second Press Law. In the little that has been written on the Press Law, this development has been explained primarily in terms of constitutional politics, and the pressure that the first majles was put under by royalist forces close to Mohammad Ali Shah who had been angered by the anti-royalist tone of some constitutional newspapers. Rarely has the press law been considered in the broader context of the history of censorship in Qajar Iran, and the attempts that had been made by the state in previous decades, to take control over what people read, and the acts of resistance that ensued in order to fight them. This paper aims to contextualize the Press Law and to consider what it tells us about the story of censorship in Qajar Iran. How did the understanding of what censorship should entail change throughout the years, and what challenges and dilemmas did censorship pose for both the authorities as well as the increasingly politicized subjects/citizens at different points in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Iran, culminating in the Press Law in spring 1908? This paper is based on a close reading of a number of newspapers published in Iran between the 1870s and 1908, as well as diaries and memoirs pertaining to this period.