BOOKS IN THE DOCK [To the Editor of Tim SPECTATOR.]
SIR,--I entirely agree with Mr. Alec Craig that any ideal legislation on the subject of obscenity must include a definition and should expressly exempt from criminal liability the sober and sincere presentation of any opinion or information. Experience in connexion with divorce law reform, however, has clearly shown that legislation on controversial moral questions is subject to indefinite postponement by party politicians. The most controversial matters were therefore
deliberately omitted front the Bill discussed in my article, in the hope that its other provisions might stand a better practical chance of general acceptance. It was also hoped that the concentration of this topic in the hands of one intelligent tribunal might lead, through judicial evolution, to a rationalisation Of the law which could never be obtained directly by statute.
With regard to Mr. Craig's interesting remarks on the subject of uniform treatment, I should explain that while it is indeed the purpose of the Bill to secure the enforcement in all parts of the country of a single practice in relation to obscenity, it is certainly not intended to alter the present rule that the circumstances attending publication arc relevant to its criminality. The function proposed for the central tribunal has been strictly limited to deciding whether a book is obscene ; it is left to the ordinary courts to decide whether in the particular circumstances before them the publication comprised the other elements of the misdemeanour of publishing an obscene libel with intent to corrupt. It is, of murk., rational that the publication, say, of a diagram in an expensive and technical medical work should be regarded by the law as on a different footing from the publication of the same diagram on postcards to be sold at tobacconists; but surely the criminality of neither publication ought to be affected by the fact of its having taken place in Bradford instead of in London.—! am, Sir,
4 Brick Court, Temple. W. A. FULLF.R.
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