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The publication of an obscene libel was an offence under the common law of England. Prior to the abolition by (section 1 ) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 of the distinction between felony and misdemeanour, it was regarded as a misdemeanour.〔R v Curl (1727) 2 Str 288, (1727) 93 ER (849 ); R v Wilkes (1770) 4 Burr 2527 at 2574, (1770) 98 ER (327 ); R v Hicklin (1868) LR 3 QB 360〕 It has been abolished in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.〔Coroners and Justice Act 2009, (section 73(c) )〕 The existence of this offence was denied by Hawkins;〔William Hawkins, Treatise on Pleas of the Crown, chapter 28, section 9, (1824 edition at p.545 ) (from Google Books)〕 and by Holt, C.J., who said that it was within the jurisdiction of the spiritual courts.〔R v Read, Fort 98, 92 ER (777 ); this decision was overruled by R v. Curl.〕 ==England and Wales== It was an offence under the common law of England and Wales to publish an obscene libel. This was an indictable-only offence. However, (section 2(4) ) of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 provided that a person publishing an article should not be proceeded against for an offence at common law consisting of the publication of any matter contained or embodied in that article where it was of the essence of the offence that the matter is "obscene". For this purpose the word "obscene" was defined by (section 1(1) ) of that Act. Lord Reid said: Accordingly, the effect of section 2(4) is that it was not possible for a person to be prosecuted for this offence, unless the definition of "obscene" at common law was wider than the statutory definition of "obscene". This was probably not the case, because the statutory definition is a paraphrase of the definition given by Lord Cockburn, J., in R v Hicklin (1868) L.R. 3 Q.B. 360 at 371. The offence was abolished when section 73(c) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 came into force on 12 January 2010.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Obscene libel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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