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This chapter describes the events that occurred from 1 September 1895–31 December 1895. It covers revolting ladies; welling up; silver and rubies; Trilbymania; Ave Satani!; far from dear father; exit Jabez; Jude the obscene; and an epidemic of indecency.

This chapter focuses on an issue with which the author of this chapter has grappled from time to time in the Appeal Court as he searched for a way of expressing it in terms that would settle the problem in a way that would be most beneficial in the public interest. Given that no one can be convicted under Scots law of a crime however trivial on the testimony of a single witness, can distress exhibited by the victim of an act of indecency that was not seen by anyone else corroborate her account of what was done to her? If the answer is that it can never do so, it must follow that private acts of indecency, which are not inflicted on at least one other person too so that they can be corroborated under the Moorov doctrine, which leave no trace and which the perpetrator does not admit to, however distressing they may have been to the victim, are beyond the reach of the criminal law. Is this acceptable in a civilised society?

Susan Harewood and John Hunte reveal a wealth of information and insight about how the range of Barbados dance and policy on that island helps form identities, from the historical dances, to efforts after independence to use dance to promote nation building, to developing the government-funded Barbados Dance Theatre Company, to that uniquely Barbadian organization, the Landship. Issues of class, of who gets government subsidy, of emphasis on the African-derived or European-derived come to the fore within their framing question of decency and indecency. The wukking up to soca and calypso at Crop Over, Barbados' carnival season, is contrasted with a resurgence of ballroom dancing, liturgical dance, and new dance companies.

This chapter discusses Warner McCary and Lucy Stanton's establishment of their own prophetic movement in Cincinnati in 1846. Their movement was modeled after Mormon practices. It also incorporated distinct ideas about American Indians. Detractors, however, began to put a strain on their “new fanaticism,” and a year after they established their movement, they were part of the main body of Mormons who were settled uneasily among Native peoples at Winter Quarters in present-day Nebraska preparing for the journey further west. While McCary's identity as an Indian was unevenly received, charges of spiritual and sexual indecency imbricated with racial concerns led to his ouster from the Mormon community. Although the Winter Quarters episode may have had lasting significance for policies of racial exclusion within the Mormon Church, it also had a transformative impact on the pair's later enactments of Indianness.

The Canadian Supreme Court, at the time of writing this book, had yet to decide a case of sexual orientation discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Section 15(1). In 1969, following the lead of England and Wales in the Sexual Offences Act 1967 and using very similar language, Canada amended the Criminal Code provisions dealing with so-called ‘buggery’ (which applied to both same-sex and opposite-sex anal intercourse) and ‘gross indecency’ (which applied to sexual acts between any two persons, and therefore potentially to all sexual activity between men or between women, and to opposite-sex oral intercourse). This chapter examines the criteria that should be used to identify ‘analogous grounds’ of discrimination under Section 15(1) and looks at two potential criteria: analogous grounds as either ‘immutable statuses’ or ‘fundamental choices’.

This chapter describes the victory of Queensberry in the court proceedings. Wilde and his friend Alfred Taylor, who had also been arrested and charged with gross indecency, appeared at the Old Bailey, where it was decided to try them separately and to take Taylor's case first. Taylor was found guilty of committing acts of gross indecency although not of procuring for Wilde. Percy and Queensberry were both in court to see this and at 5:04 p.m., Queensberry sent a triumphant telegram to Minnie. The judge's censure was, however, decidedly mitigated by a preceding remark that the conduct, although unworthy of a gentleman, was, nevertheless, natural in a father. Lord Queensberry had performed a public service in throwing the search light of justice upon that hideous circle of extensive corruption.

This chapter surveys the development of three regimes in the laws of print, broadcast, and cable media, with different frameworks for government regulation, and the challenge of applying any of those frameworks to communications on the internet. The chapter considers constitutional decisions in each of the areas over the course of the middle and late twentieth century.

This chapter examines the 2006 investigation and trial of Minister of Justice Haim Ramon following an incident with a female officer. What had been a simple matter was blown out of proportion as police investigators attempted to charge Ramon for indecency, despite conflicting testimonies of the affair as well as the female officer’s own unwillingness to press charges until pressured to do so. The main charge against Ramon was committing an indecent act, although a charge of obstruction of justice was added which provided grounds for a wiretap. The obstruction of justice file was closed but the prosecution decided to press the indecent act charge—a decision which proved unpopular, even among feminists. The court later issued a verdict which wrongly convicted Ramon—but ruled that his conviction does not carry moral turpitude. The aftermath produced internal shockwaves within the government as the issue was scrutinized in more depth, and, coincidentally enough, the Ramon affair also led to the author’s own appointment to Ramon’s previous post of minister of justice. Ramon subsequently returned to the government as vice prime minister for special assignments.