No Law Against It

For more than a month a man telephoned a married woman he did not know, as often as three times a week, at any hour. He used filthy, sexually explicit language and urged her to commit indecent acts. The calls went over a shared party line, and two others in the household heard them. He was indicted for conduct meant to corrupt public morals and harass the woman. Everyone agrees no statute made what he did a crime. He argues that if the legislature has not forbidden it, it is not a crime.