Canada redefines indecency law
December 23rd 2005, 09:10 Jeff Sela
A prosecution of a swingers club has lead to a major change in how public decency is regarded by the law in Canada. A few days ago the Canadian Supreme Court decided, with a majority of 7 to 2, that sex should be considered indecent only if it's actually harmful to society. Previously cases of indecency were tested against ‘community standards’ of morality.
From an article about the finding (via Mister Wolfe):
Joel Bakan, a University of British Columbia law professor, said the court is taking a very liberal approach to the issue.
“It's saying that if an activity is actually causing harm … then it should be and can be stopped,” he said.
“If it's simply a question of moral taste, a question of sort of subjective views of what people like to do with their life, basically people are free to do what they want as long as they're not causing harm to others.”
While the case concerns sex in swingers clubs, the same kind of community standards based legal definitions are used in many countries, including the USA and the UK, for deciding obscenity cases. They've often been criticised for being inconsistent since, for example, pornography that's considered obscene in Texas might not bother the average Californian.
This is a desperately needed dose of rationality in the sordid world of sex law. We can only hope that other countries follow where Canada leads, and take the juries out of our bedrooms.
< Bloggers outraged at Jerry Springer ban | Review of Araki: Self•Life•Death >
