著者

佐藤 治夫

出版者

英米文化学会

雑誌

英米文化 (ISSN:09173536)

巻号頁・発行日

no.38, pp.5-30, 2008-03-31

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The present paper reevaluated the significance of the Obscene Publications Act 1857(OPA), or Campbell's Law(An Act for more effectually preventing the Sale of Obscene Books, Pictures, Prints, and other Articles) from the view point of assessing the opposing forces in and out of the British Parliament that influenced the actual law-making process. In good contrast with the first hesitant approach before his submission of OPA, Lord Campbell, the propagator of OPA, is found quite straightforward in pressing his objective, widely supported by the public opinions outside the Houses, to his fellow members of the House, which might have unnecessarily provoked repulsive attitudes from some of them-probably best represented by Lord Lyndhurst, who openly made objections in the House of Lords, referring to the possibility of endangering the British literary works in the process of enforcing OPA. The verbal conflict between the two parties will well be summarised as that of maintaining the standard of decency in society as against the protection of national literature. It is quite noteworthy that the process of law-making itself only promoted the discussion of decency and moral integration, and not the protection of literature.