United States v. Moore

EVANS, District Judge.

The demurrer to the indictment in this case demands a construction of section 3893 of the Eevised Statutes, which declares to be unmailable, and which imposes a penalty for knowingly mailing, “every obscene, lewd, or lascivious book or paper.” There might be some doubt as to the meaning and intent of congress in this legislation if the supreme court had not defined it in very clear, though possibly in very narrow, terms in the case of Swearingen v. U. S., 161 U. S. 448, 16 Sup. Ct. 562, 40 L. Ed. 765. After holding that the word “or,” first occurring in the sentence…