United States v. Clarke
District Court, E.D. Missouri
Indictment for Sending Obscene TVIatter through the Mails. The matter complained of was — First, a small pamphlet in paper cover, entitled “Dr. Clarke’s Treatise on Venereal, Sexual, Nervous, and Special Diseases,” and consisted mainly of a description of the causes and effects of venereal diseases; and, secondly, of two circulars, one of which described in separate paragraphs the symptoms of various venereal diseases, and the other contained a list of questions' to be…
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Indictment for Sending Obscene TVIatter through the Mails. The matter complained of was — First, a small pamphlet in paper cover, entitled “Dr. Clarke’s Treatise on Venereal, Sexual, Nervous, and Special Diseases,” and consisted mainly of a description of the causes and effects of venereal diseases; and, secondly, of two circulars, one of which described in separate paragraphs the symptoms of various venereal diseases, and the other contained a list of questions' to be answered.
1Opinion of the Court
Thayer, J.,
{charging jury.') The admission having been made during the course of the trial that the defendant caused the pamphlet and two other papers referred to in the indictment and offered in evidence to be deposited in the St. Louis post-office for mailing to the several persons to whom they were addressed, the sole question that remains for you to consider and determine is whether the pamphlet and papers are obscene, lewd, or lascivious. If they were obscene, lewd, or lascivious, then they were non-mailable matter, and an offense was committed in causing them to be deposited in the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- United States v. BennettU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York · 1879
3Cited by26 opinions
- American Civil Liberties Union v. City of ChicagoIllinois Supreme Court · 1954
- United States v. LevineCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1936
- Burton v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 1906
- Sunshine Book Company v. SummerfieldDistrict Court, District of Columbia · 1955
- United States v. 31 Photographs 4¾" X 7"District Court, S.D. New York · 1957
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