PROSECUTIONS OF PUBLISHERS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As
writers and as members of the Council for Civil Liberties, a non-party body, we view with concern the new threat to freedom revealed in the recent prosecution of Mr. James Hanley's novel Boy. We offer no opinion on the book itself, though we point out that Mr. Hanley is a writer of standing and that Messrs. Boriswood, the publishers, against - whom the prosecution -was brought, are a firm of repute. We desire rather to emphasize the following facts :
(1) The prosecution occurred nearly three and a-half years after Boy had been published and after it had been reprinted four times. z (2) Proceedings were initiated at Bury in Lancashire where the police called at a local library and took possession of copies.
(3) Messrs. Boriswood were indicted at Common Law. They were advised to plead guilty, for technical reasons, and on March 20th, 1935, fines were imposed by Mr. Justice Porter at Manchester Assizes, to the extent of £400.
(4) Messrs. Boriswood have now withdrawn Boy from cir- • culation, but we are advised that legally they are still liable to proceedings in respect of every copy which may have been sold before withdrawal.
We would call attention to the magnitude of the fine, and we would suggest the following alterations in the law : (a) There shall be a limit of time (dating from publication) beyond which a prosecution may not be instituted. .
(b) There shall- be provision against multiplicity of pro- ceedings so that a publisher (or author) cannot be prosecuted repeatedly.—Yours faithfully,
E. M. FORSTER, President.
A. P.- HERBERT, A. A. MILNE, J. B. PRIESTLEY, • H. G. WELLS, Vice-Presidents. . The National Council for Civil Liberties, 99a Charing Cross Road, W.C. 2. : • [In readily publicity to the views- of Mr. Forster and . . his fellow-signatories on the queition of procedure we must not be interpreted as committing ourselves to any 4ind of, defence of the volume in question.—En. The Spectator.]
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