Public Indecency in England 1857-1960 : 'a Serious and Growing Evil'.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (217 pages)
- Routledge SOLON Explorations in Crime and Criminal Justice Histories Series .
- Routledge SOLON Explorations in Crime and Criminal Justice Histories Series .
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of tables -- Preface and acknowledgements -- List of abbreviations -- List of cases -- List of statutes -- Series editor introduction -- Introduction: Defining public indecency -- 1 The historical background: Indecency and the rise of moral activism -- 2 The intensification of the indecency agenda 1857-1885 -- 3 'Demoralization' and moral activism: Fighting the 'serious and growing evil' 1885-1908 -- 4 A real or imagined enigma? 'Stemming the tide of corruption': Indecency 1908-1960 -- 5 'Indecorous and inexpedient': Visual and aural indecency in the dramatic arts 1857-1960 -- 6 Indecency in practice: The policing and judicial response -- 7 Intoxicated indecency: How the drink problem was resolved -- 8 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.
Covering a period of just over a century, from 1857 (the date of the passing of the first Obscene Publications Act) to 1960 (the date of the famous trial of Penguin Books over their publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover following the introduction of a new Obscene Publications Act in the previous year), Public Indecency in England investigates the social and cultural obsession with various forms of indecency and how public perceptions of different types of indecent behaviour led to legal definitions of such behaviour in both common law and statute.