Obscene Publications Acts

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:

• Obscene Publications Act 1857
• Obscene Publications Act 1959
• Obscene Publications Act 1964

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]
• 2009: Darryn Walker found not guilty under the Obscene Publications Act for posting a story entitled "Girls (Scream) Aloud", a fictional written account on an internet erotic story site describing the kidnap, rape and murder of pop group Girls Aloud.^[2][3]
• 2010: A man charged over an online text chat.^[4]

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

See also

• List of short titles
• Censorship in the United Kingdom
• Blasphemy Act

References

1. ^ http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/nstat.html
2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/8124059.stm
3. ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/06/obscene_publication_girls_aloud/
4. ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/26/obscene_publications_chat/

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

This legislation article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: British laws Obscenity law Censorship in the United Kingdom Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Statute stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР SST Torment Look at other dictionaries: Obscene Publications Act 1857 — Parliament of the United Kingdom Statute book chapter 20 21 Vict. c.83 Territorial extent England and Wales, Ireland …   Wikipedia Obscene Publications Act 1959 — United Kingdom Parliament …   Wikipedia Censorship of Publications Board (Ireland) — The Censorship of Publications Board is an independent board established by the Censorship of Publications Act, 1929 to examine books and periodicals that are for sale in the Republic of Ireland. It is governed by the Censorship of Publications… …   Wikipedia List of Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament, 1940-1959 — This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1940 1959. For acts passed prior to 1707 see List of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament and List of Acts of Parliament of the Scottish… …   Wikipedia Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 — United Kingdom Parliament Long title An Act to prevent the dissemination of certain pictorial publications harmful to children and young persons …   Wikipedia List of Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament, 1840-1859 — This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1840 1859. For acts passed prior to 1707 see List of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament and List of Acts of Parliament of the Scottish… …   Wikipedia List of Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament, 1960-1979 — This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1960 1979. For acts passed prior to 1707 see List of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament and List of Acts of Parliament of the Scottish… …   Wikipedia Obscenity — Part of a series on Censorship By media …   Wikipedia Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 — Violent pornography redirects here. For the System of a Down song, see Mezmerize (album). Sex and the law Social issues Age of consent · …   Wikipedia Internet Watch Foundation — Infobox Website name = Internet Watch Foundation url = http://www.iwf.org.uk/ caption = Detail of IWF s front page at http://www.iwf.org.uk/. The site s layout is composed to emphasize the Report Illegal Content button at center screen.… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”