Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Comstock Act of 1873" in English language version.
Except as otherwise expressly provided by law, no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after such offense shall have been committed.
Although its reach has been somewhat curtailed by the courts based upon first amendment principles, the Comstock Act remains on our books today. In 1971, Congress deleted the prohibition on birth control; but the prohibition on information about abortion remains, and the maximum fine was increased in 1994 from $5,000 to $250,000 for a first offense.
The fact that the mailings in this case were wholly intrastate is immaterial for a prosecution under § 1461. That statute was one enacted under Congress' postal power, granted in Art. I, § 8, cl. 7, of the Constitution, and the Postal Power Clause does not distinguish between interstate and intrastate matters.
A jury convicted Thomas Alan Arthur of...five counts of using an interactive computer service to transport obscene matters, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1462(a)...
A law expressly prohibiting editorial comment upon the merits of sexually discriminatory employment which directly or indirectly informs readers of employers who do unlawfully discriminate and the availability of jobs with such employers would obviously be unconstitutional. Likewise unconstitutional is a statute which prohibits comment, itself nonobscene, upon the merits of literary or artistic material deemed obscene by a community into which that opinion is mailed, simply because the opinion also gives information as to where such material may be obtained.
Jackson upheld a law excluding from the mail any circulars or letters concerning 'lotteries' which were then 'widely considered 'to have a demoralizing influence upon the people.' The Court's unanimous decision relied upon the example of the act of March 3, 1873 [Comstock Act], in which Congress declared 'that no obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, print, or other publication of an indecent character, or any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion ...' could be carried in the mails.
Jackson upheld a law excluding from the mail any circulars or letters concerning 'lotteries' which were then 'widely considered 'to have a demoralizing influence upon the people.' The Court's unanimous decision relied upon the example of the act of March 3, 1873 [Comstock Act], in which Congress declared 'that no obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, print, or other publication of an indecent character, or any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion ...' could be carried in the mails.
Although its reach has been somewhat curtailed by the courts based upon first amendment principles, the Comstock Act remains on our books today. In 1971, Congress deleted the prohibition on birth control; but the prohibition on information about abortion remains, and the maximum fine was increased in 1994 from $5,000 to $250,000 for a first offense.
A jury convicted Thomas Alan Arthur of...five counts of using an interactive computer service to transport obscene matters, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1462(a)...
Jackson upheld a law excluding from the mail any circulars or letters concerning 'lotteries' which were then 'widely considered 'to have a demoralizing influence upon the people.' The Court's unanimous decision relied upon the example of the act of March 3, 1873 [Comstock Act], in which Congress declared 'that no obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, print, or other publication of an indecent character, or any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion ...' could be carried in the mails.
