Objections to bishops were based on political as well as religious grounds. They acted as state censors, able to ban sermons and writings considered objectionable, while lay people could be tried by church courts for crimes including blasphemy, heresy, fornication and other 'sins of the flesh', as well as matrimonial or inheritance disputes. Bishops also sat in the House of Lords and often blocked legislation opposed by the Crown; their ousting from Parliament by the 1640 Clergy Act was a major step on the road to war. Their removal ended censorship and led to an explosion in the printing of pamphlets, books and sermons, many advocating radical religious and political principles, especially in London.