APPEAL HEARD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19919, 22 April 1939, Page 16

APPEAL HEARD

DENIAL OF INDECENCY BOCCACCIO'S DECAMERON MAGISTRATE CHALLENGED DECISION RESERVED (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. . The judgment that Howard K. Sumpter, a principal of the London Book Club, was guilty of having in his possession for hire an indecent book, "The Decameron," of Boccaccio, was given bv Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M.. on March'l2. A fine of £5 Is was Imposed.

An appeal against that decision was heard toy Mr. Justice Blair in the Supreme Court yesterday. The appeal on behalf of Sumpter was prosecuted toy Mr; Munro. tOn behalf Of the Solicitor-General, Mr. V. R. Meredith and Mr. N. I. Smith opposed it:

Mr. Meredith ; said the question whether ißoecaecio's "Decameron" was an indecent publication was really & matter of fact. Doufctless it would toe. submitted that it was a classic,work literary -merit, 'but he 'argued that the book should not ■ toe looked' upon •as a whole tout judged by : particular passages. , , - ■ ,

Be aubrriitted a lengthy list of stories of- the book which be described as. immoral, * and said that they could not- .be justified' on any ground whatever. No artistic merit could clothe 'them with decency. Obscene Passages

Mr. Munro said the mere fact that there were obscene passages in the book did not mean that the book as a whole was obscene. The book was written in the fourteenth century when the morals of the church were at a low ebb, and Boccaccio had some of the notions of a moral reformer

An impression given by reading extracts would be altered by reading the toook as a whole.' It seemed to him that this case involved a' judgment on English literature of the 16th, 17th and, 18th centuries. Professor W. A. Sewell, professor of. (English at Auckland ■ University College, said the importance, of Boccaccio in the history of European literature was twofold. He gave the most perfect picture they had of the Renaissance humanism, and he exercised a pronounced influence on European literature. He was the father of the novel and had been the source book for many great English writers, including Chaucer, Shakespeare, Keats and Tennyson. Different Standards His Honour referred to the different standards of freedom of expression among different races and at different periods. 'He said he supposed he had to be guided by the standards of the present time. Mr. Munro said the first question was whether the .Ibook was an indecent book. He invited His Honour to consider the Ibook as a whole, and asked if the present-day view of morality was such that this book should be regarded as indecent under the Indecent Publications Act. Mr. Meredith said' the Indecent Publications Act was enacted for the protection of the public of NewZealand at the present time. They were not concerned with the morality of Italy >in the 14th' century. lie agreed that a book, particularly a classic, should not be tanned because of an isolated passage, but he said the indecencies in "The Decameron" were there, page after page and story after, story. ' His Honour reserved his decision.