The Maryland State Board of Censors was a three-member state agency created in 1916 required to view all films to be shown in the state, and decide whether or not the films were "moral and proper." Without approval of the agency, a film could not be legally shown in Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. The agency was also charged with enforcing their decisions.

One agency decision against a film led to the Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 case Freedman v. Maryland

Freedman v. Maryland

Freedman v. Maryland, , is a United States Supreme Court case that ended government-operated rating boards with a decision that a rating board could only approve a film and had no power to ban a film. The ruling also concluded that a rating board must either approve a film within a reasonable time,...

, 380 U.S. 51 (1965), which placed significant restrictions on state censorship

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

 statutes.

In 1970 the authority of the State Board of Censors was assigned to the newly-created Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation

Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation

The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation is a government agency in the U.S. state of Maryland. DLLR is overseen by Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez...

.