South Australian Current Acts

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SUMMARY OFFENCES ACT 1953 - SECT 35

35—Restriction on reports of immorality etc

        (1)         A person must not—

            (a)         print, or cause to be printed; or

            (b)         offer for sale or sell, or cause to be offered for sale or sold; or

            (c)         have possession of for sale or distribution,

a newspaper in which any one report—

            (d)         relating to legal proceedings involving questions of sexual immorality, unnatural vice or indecent conduct; or

            (e)         containing other material descriptive of, or relating to, sexual immorality, unnatural vice or indecent conduct,

occupies more than 50 lines of 13 ems wide, or an equivalent space, in any kind of type, or carries a heading composed of type larger than 10 point capitals.

Maximum penalty: $2 500 or imprisonment for 6 months.

        (2)         In this section—

"legal proceedings" includes sittings of Royal and other commissions of inquiry and of select committees of Parliament;

"newspaper" means a copy of a periodical publication which is published at intervals not exceeding three months, or any part of such a copy.

        (3)         For the purposes of this section, separate articles in the same newspaper relating to the same matter will be taken to form the one report, and all photographs illustrative of, or connected with, a report will be taken to form part of the report.

        (4)         Subsection (1)(b) and (c) prohibit, within the State, the sale, offering for sale, causing to be offered for sale or sold, or having in possession for sale or distribution, of a newspaper containing a report contrary to subsection (1), whether the newspaper was printed or published within or outside the State and whether the report relates to legal proceedings and other matters taking place within or outside the State.

        (5)         It is a defence to a charge of an offence against this section for the defendant to prove that the report to which the charge relates—

            (a)         was published at the direction of a court or other body conducting legal proceedings; or

            (b)         forms part of a genuine series of law reports that does not form part of any other publication and consists solely of reports of proceedings in courts of law; or

            (c)         is a publication of a technical character genuinely intended for circulation among members of the legal or medical professions.

        (6)         A prosecution for an offence against this section cannot be instituted without the written consent of the Commissioner.

        (7)         An apparently genuine document purporting to authorise a prosecution under this section and to be signed by the Commissioner will, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be accepted by a court as proof of the consent of the Commissioner to the prosecution.



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