The Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 (c.28) is an
Act of Parliament of the
United Kingdom Parliament that prohibited
comics
a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...
that were thought to be harmful to children. The Act was introduced by the Home Secretary,
Gwilym Lloyd George
Gwilym Lloyd George, 1st Viscount Tenby, (4 December 1894 – 14 February 1967) was a Welsh politician and cabinet minister. The younger son of David Lloyd George, he served as Home Secretary from 1954 to 1957.
Background, education and milit ...
(a son of former prime minister
David Lloyd George), in response to the publication of
horror comics which had become popular by the 1950s.
[Hansard]
22 Feb 1955 This issue was drawn to the attention of Parliament by the
National Union of Teachers and by the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
,
Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961.
From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marlb ...
.
Provisions
Section 1 defined the kind of publication which the Act was intended to deal with. It applied to:
"...any book, magazine or other like work which is of a kind likely to fall into the hands of children or young persons and consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures (with or without the addition of written matter), being stories portraying—
:(a) the commission of crimes; or
:(b) acts of violence or cruelty; or
:(c) incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature;
in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to corrupt a child or young person into whose hands it might fall."
"Child or young person" means someone aged under 18.
Section 2(1) made it a criminal offence in
England and Wales and
Scotland to print, publish, sell or let on hire such a comic, or to possess one for the purpose of selling or letting it. The offence is punishable by imprisonment for up to 4 months or a £1,000 fine (increased from £100 in 1975 (Scotland) and 1982 (England)).
The offence was originally triable before a
jury. However it is today a
summary offence
A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence).
Canada
In Canada, summary offenc ...
.
Section 2(2) requires the consent of the
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
to prosecute the offence in England and Wales.
Section 3 gives the courts the power to issue
search warrants and to order
forfeiture
Forfeit or forfeiture may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Forfeit'', a 2007 thriller film starring Billy Burke
* "Forfeit", a song by Chevelle from '' Wonder What's Next''
* '' Forfeit/Fortune'', a 2008 album by Crooked Fingers
...
of harmful publications.
Section 4, the only section of the Act that applies to
Northern Ireland, prohibits the importation of harmful publications into the United Kingdom. The prohibition also applies to "any plate prepared for the purpose of printing copies of any such work and any photographic film prepared for that purpose." Section 4 is the origin of the
Royal Mail
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, logo_size = 250px
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, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
prohibition against mailing
horror comics and the
matrices used to print them. To contravene the section is an offence under the
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs h ...
, punishable with up to 7 years' imprisonment.
Section 5 includes "No provision of this Act, other than the provisions of the last foregoing section, shall extend to Northern Ireland." It also originally included a
sunset clause under which the Act was to expire on 31 December 1965, unless Parliament decided otherwise. The
Expiring Laws Act 1969 made the Act permanent.
Prosecutions
There were no prosecutions under the Act until 1970, when there were two. The Attorney General refused to prosecute in 46 other cases between 1955 and 1982. There were no offences under the act recorded between April 2004 and February 2008.
Hansard
20 Feb 2008
See also
* Obscene Publications Act 1959
* Comics Code Authority (United States)
References
External links
*{{wikisource-inline, Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1955, single=true
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1955
Censorship in the United Kingdom
Children's rights in the United Kingdom
Youth in the United Kingdom
Juvenile law