Obscene Publications Act 1857 - Provisions of The Act

Provisions of The Act

The Act provided for the seizure and summary disposition of any material deemed to be obscene, and held for sale or distribution, following information being laid before a "court of summary jurisdiction" (a Magistrates' Court). The Act required that following evidence of a common-law offence being committed — for example, on the report of a plain-clothes policeman who had successfully purchased the material — the court could issue a warrant for the premises to be searched and the material seized. The proprietor then would be called upon to attend court and give reason why the material should not be destroyed. The Act also granted authority to issue search warrants for premises suspected of housing such materials.

Read more about this topic:  Obscene Publications Act 1857

Famous quotes containing the words provisions and/or act:

    Drinking tents were full, glasses began to clink in carriages, hampers to be unpacked, tempting provisions to be set forth, knives and forks to rattle, champagne corks to fly, eyes to brighten that were not dull before, and pickpockets to count their gains during the last heat. The attention so recently strained on one object of interest, was now divided among a hundred; and, look where you would, there was a motley assemblage of feasting, talking, begging, gambling and mummery.
    Charles Dickens (1812–1870)

    Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all.
    Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)