| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for more effectually preventing the Sale of Obscene Books, Pictures, Prints, and other Articles. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 20 & 21 Vict. c. 83 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales, Ireland |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 25 August 1857 |
| Repealed | 29 August 1959 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Obscene Publications Act 1959 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Obscene Publications Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 83[2]), also known as Lord Campbell's Act or Campbell's Act,[3] was a piece of legislation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland dealing with obscenity. For the first time, it made the sale of obscene material a statutory offence, giving the courts power to seize and destroy offending material. The Act superseded a 1787 Royal Proclamation by George III titled Proclamation for the Discouragement of Vice.[4][5] The proclamation commanded the prosecution of those guilty of "excessive drinking, blasphemy, profane swearing and cursing, lewdness, profanation of the Lord's Day, and other dissolute, immoral, or disorderly practices".[6] Prior to this Act, the "exposure for sale" of "obscene books and prints" had been made illegal by the Vagrancy Act 1824.[7] but the publication of obscene material was a common law misdemeanour[8] The effective prosecution of authors and publishers was difficult even in cases where the material was clearly intended as pornography.
- ^ The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
- ^ "A Collection of the Public General Statutes: 1857,2". 1857.
- ^ Miriam A. Drake (2003). Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science: Abs-Dec. CRC Press. p. 470. ISBN 978-0-8247-2077-3. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ Pollock, John (1977), Wilberforce, New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 61, ISBN 978-0-09-460780-4, OCLC 3738175
- ^ Brown, Christopher Leslie (2006). Moral capital: foundations of British abolitionism. North Carolina: Chapel Hill. p. 346. ISBN 9780807856987.
- ^ Hochschild, Adam (2005). Bury the Chains: prophets and rebels in the fight to free an empire's slaves. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. p. 126. ISBN 0333904915.
- ^ Originally by the Vagrancy Act 1824; subsequently extended by the Vagrancy Act 1838, the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 and the Town Police Clauses Act 1847
- ^ From the precedent set by R. v. Curl (1729) following the publication of Venus in the Cloister