Art. I, § 4, Fla. Const. · Article I. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
Freedom of speech and press.
Text — As revised in 1968 and subsequently amended (Online Sunshine, retrieved 2026-10-04)
Every person may speak, write and publish sentiments on all subjects but shall be responsible for the abuse of that right. No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions and civil actions for defamation the truth may be given in evidence. If the matter charged as defamatory is true and was published with good motives, the party shall be acquitted or exonerated.
Notes and commentary — not constitutional text
History
Am. proposed by Constitution Revision Commission, Revision No. 13, 1998, filed with the Secretary of State May 5, 1998; adopted 1998.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As revised in 1968 and subsequently amended (Online Sunshine, retrieved 2026-10-04)
- Official file
- https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?Mode=Constitution&Submenu=3&Tab=statutes
- Text hash
- sha256 98d4519eb0fc5307110c352600f66a01b49a94b4206764f010fe06930b0c176f
- Composed by
- compose_v2.py 2026-10-04: the Legislature's structured HTML read in document order; verify_v2.py's independent reading agrees character for character
- composed from the Legislature's structured HTML (one source of text; no PDF extraction); a second, independent reading of the same bytes agrees character for character
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.