header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
20 October 2023 / William Gibson
Issue: 8045 / Categories: Features , Profession
printer mail-detail

A lady not for burning

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
143245
William Gibson on how an unsuccessful, widely-reported prosecution proved to be an unbeatable marketing tool

Any books which fell foul of the Obscene Publications Act 1857 could be shipped to a bonfire. When that Act was superseded in 1959 publishers knew that the new provisions and definitions would have to be tested in court before they could embark on a major print run.

Penguin Books decided in 1960 to publish a collection of works by D H Lawrence to mark the 30th anniversary of his death. One of the books was Lady Chatterley’s Lover (LCL). Written in 1928 it had been widely banned world wide because of the high sexual content and prolific use of four-letter words. They decided to invite prosecution to test the strength of the new Act so they delivered 12 copies to a police inspector. This constituted ‘limited distribution’ so proceedings were begun.

The book

The story is basically of a love affair between the sexually-deprived aristocratic Lady Constance Chatterley (whose husband was disabled in the First

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck

Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck

Partner and Manchester office lead appointed head of family

Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale

Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale

DWF insurance services director appointed to Civil Justice Council

R3—Jodie Wildridge

R3—Jodie Wildridge

Kings Chambers barrister appointed chair of R3 Yorkshire

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll