obscene material

obscene material definition - legal

n

According to a Supreme Court decision, material is obscene, and hence not protected by the free-speech provision of the First Amendment if it has three elements: It must have prurient appeal, as decided by the average person applying the standards of the community; it must portray sexual conduct in an offensive way; and it must be lacking in serious artistic, literary, scientific, or political value.

Webster's New World Law Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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