City of Urbana ex rel. Newlin v. Downing

The defendants-appellants raise ten propositions of law, including challenges to the jurisdiction of the Urbana Municipal Court to rule whether the five magazines at issue are obscene. For the reasons that follow we affirm the lower court’s rulings.

In their first and third propositions of law, the defendants-appellants challenge the subject-matter jurisdiction of the Urbana Municipal Court to hear this declaratory judgment action. The trial court denied defendants’ motion to dismiss based upon the same arguments regarding subject-matter jurisdiction. The defendants then filed their answer and…