Obscene Publications Act

Obscene Publications Act
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Obscene_Publications_Act".

content

This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)

Since 1857, a series of obscenity laws known as the Obscene Publications Acts have governed what can be published in England and Wales. The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," stated in 1868 by John Duke Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge.

There have been several Acts of Parliament of this name:

Of these, only the 1959 and 1964 acts are still in force in England and Wales, as amended by more recent legislation. They define the legal bounds of obscenity in England and Wales, and are used to enforce the censorship of obscene material. Irish law diverged from English law in 1929, replacing the OPA 1857 with a new Irish act; see Irish statutes relating to censorship.

Important events in the recent history of the Obscene Publications Act have included:

1960: the Lady Chatterley's Lover obscenity trial (found not guilty)
1971: the Schoolkids Oz obscenity trial (found guilty, overturned on appeal)
1976: the Inside Linda Lovelace obscenity trial (found not guilty)
1984: the Gay's the Word prosecution (charges dropped)
1991: David Britton's "Lord Horror" prosecution (not prosecuted - banned under the act, but later overturned)¹

In October 2008, a man was prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act for posting fictional written material to the Internet allegedly describing kidnap, rape and murder of pop group Girls Aloud.²

Scottish prohibitions on obscene material are to be found in section 51 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

References

External links

Official text of Obscene Publications Act 1959 (c.66) as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
Official text of Obscene Publications Act 1964 (c.74) as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
Article on the Acts
Conditions of Charge for Obscene material

v • d • e United Kingdom legislation

Acts of Parliament by states preceding the United Kingdom of Great Britain	Acts of Parliament of England to 1601 · 1601–1706 Acts of Parliament of Scotland Acts of the Parliament of Ireland to 1700 · 1701–1800

Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain:	1707–1719 · 1720–1739 · 1740–1759 · 1760–1779 · 1780–1800

Acts of Parliament of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	1801–1819 · 1820–1839 · 1840–1859 · 1860–1879 · 1880–1899 · 1900–1919 · 1920–1939 · 1940–1959 · 1960–1979 · 1980–1999 · 2000 to date

Church of England Measures	List · Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919

Legislation of Devolved institutions	Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly · Northern Ireland Parliament · Scottish Parliament Measures of the Welsh Assembly Orders in Council for Northern Ireland

Secondary legislation	United Kingdom Statutory Instruments

This legislation article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Your Ad Here

See also

References

External links