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Obscene libel

Criminal Law and Procedure Doctrine

Obscene libel, meaning the publication of an obscene libel, was an offence under the common law of England. Before section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 abolished the distinction between felony and misdemeanour, it was regarded as a misdemeanour. The offence has since been abolished in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland. The existence of the offence was denied by Hawkins, and by Holt, C.J., who said that the matter was within the jurisdiction of the spiritual courts. It is therefore a historical common law doctrine rather than a current offence in those jurisdictions.

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Classification
Doctrine Category
Criminal Law 1
Connections

In Area Of Law

Entity-backed identity for the doctrine category value this doctrine already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a doctrine entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.

In Legal System

Source Obscene libel (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Obscene libel
the publication of an obscene libel was an offence under the common law of EnglandView the Source
Obscene libel (Wikipedia)
In Legal System: Common Law, Wikipedia lead sentence
Quote, In Legal System: Common Law, Wikipedia lead sentence
publication of an obscene libel was an offence under the common law of England
View the Source
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