Commonwealth v. Isenstadt

The defendant has been found guilty by a judge of the Superior Court sitting without jury upon two complaints charging him respectively with selling and with having in his possession for the purpose of sale, exhibition, loan, or circulation a book published under the title “Strange Fruit,” which is “obscene, indecent or impure, or manifestly tends to corrupt the morals of youth.” G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 272, § 28, as amended by St. 1934, c. 231, and St. 1943, c. 239. The section (except the part describing the penalty) is reproduced in the footnote.1

The complaints are in disjunctive form, but…