11. Reigen
box 19/1
13
The Book, as Appraised by Its Contents
andas Gauged by World-Wide Accept¬
ance Does Not Violate Any Criminal
Statute of New York State.
The first requirement of a sound body of law is
that it should correspond with the actual feelings
and demands of the community, whether right or
wrong.* (Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Common
Late, p. 41.)
Reigen'' is part of the educational system of
Columbia University, as heretofore indicated. The
record in the case shows that it has been advertised
in the New York Times, in the Herald-Tribune, and
in the Saturday Review of Literature. It has been
generally sold in book stores, drug stores and cigar
stores, including the book department of Macy’s.
(See Case cn Appeal, fols. 43-48, inclusive.) Our
obscenity law is a sweeping and all-inclusive one.
It draws no distinction between persons, on the one
hand, who publish, distribute and sell obscene ma¬
terial; and persons, on the other hand, who adver¬
tise or disseminate the identical matter in any man¬
ner whatsoever. If the conviction of the defendant
is to stand then the officials of Columbia University,
the newspapers, the bookdealers and all other per¬
sons who have aided in bringing the work to theat¬
tention of the public, must without exception be
haled into Court and convicted. Any other course
would lead to a kind of vicious diserimination which
is intolerable in law; or would induce nullisication,
which is hostile to all our legal institutions.
It must be remembered not only that“ Reigen?
has been universally accepted, but that its author,
Dr. Arthur Sehnitzler, is one of the outstanding lit¬
erary figures of the day. He has been recognized
as such forthe past two decades. No educational
course dealing with modern German literature is