The Mail-Order Parcels

Over several months a man mailed sexually explicit magazines and films from one city in his state to post-office boxes in two small towns in the same state, at the written request of postal inspectors using fictitious names. He was charged with seven counts of mailing obscene material under federal law. At the time, his state had repealed its general obscenity laws and restricted such material only when distributed to minors. The defence argued that because the mailings never left the state, and the state itself allowed such material for adults, state law should fix the community standards by which the jury judged obscenity — and under that standard the material was lawful.