Jay Fox v. State of Washington

Decision Date23 February 1915
Docket NumberNo. 134,134
Citation236 U.S. 273,59 L.Ed. 573,35 S.Ct. 383
PartiesJAY FOX, Plff. in Err., v. STATE OF WASHINGTON
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Gilbert E. Roe for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 274 intentionally omitted] Mr. W. V. Tanner, Attorney General of Washington, and Mr. Fred G. Remann, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an information for editing printed matter tending to encourage and advocate disrespect for law, contrary to a statute of Washington. The statute is as follows: 'Every person who shall wilfully print, publish, edit, issue, or knowingly circulate, sell, distribute or display any book, paper, document, or written or printed matter, in any form, advocating, encouraging or inciting, or having a tendency to encourage or incite the commission of any crime, breach of the peace, or act of violence, or which shall tend to encourage or advocate disrespect for law or for any court or courts of justice, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor;' Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2564. The defendant demurred on the ground that the act was unconstitutional. The demurrer was overruled and the defendant was tried and convicted. 71 Wash. 185, 127 Pac. 1111. With regard to the jurisdiction of this court, it should be observed that the supreme court of the state, while affirming that the Constitution of the United States guarantees freedom of speech, held not only that the act was valid in that respect, but also that it was not bad for uncertainty, citing Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v. Texas, 212 U. S. 86, 53 L. ed. 417, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 220, so that we gather that the Constitution of the United States, and especially the 14th Amendment, was relied upon, apart from the certificate of the chief justice to that effect.

The printed matter in question is an article entitled, 'The Nude and the Prudes,' reciting in its earlier part that 'Home is a community of free spirits, who came out into the woods to escape the polluted atmosphere of priest-ridden, conventional society;' that 'one of the liberties enjoyed by the Homeites was the privilege to bathe in evening dress, or with merely the clothes nature gave them, just as they chose;' but that 'eventually a few prudes got into the community and proceeded in the brutal, unneighborly way of the outside world to suppress the people's freedom,' and that they had four persons arrested on the charge of indecent exposure, followed in two cases, it seems, by sentences to imprisonment. 'And the perpetrators of this vile action wonder why they are being boycotted.' It goes on: 'The well-merited indignation of the people has been aroused. Their liberty has been attacked. The first step in the way of subjecting the community to all the persecution of the outside has been taken. If this was let go without resistance the progress of the prudes would be easy.' It then predicts and encourages the boycott of those who thus interfere with...

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    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • June 1, 1962
    ... ... with a violation of section 741, Municipal Code; that on arraignment they filed a written demurrer to the complaint alleging that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a public offense; that the municipal court overruled the demurrer, and, unless restrained, will proceed with trial; ... Wurzbach, 280 U.S. 396, 50 S.Ct. 167, 71 L.Ed. 508; Hygrade Provision Co. v. Sherman, 266 U.S. 497, 45 S.Ct. 141, 96 L.Ed. 402; Fox v. Washington, 236 U.S. 273, 35 S.Ct. 383, 59 L.Ed. 573; Nash v. United States, 229 U.S. 373, 33 S.Ct. 780, 57 L.Ed. 1232. [Footnote omitted.] ... ...
  • Vogel v. Los Angeles County
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    ...read to avoid raising difficult constitutional problems which any other application would present. Fox v. State of Washington, 1915, 236 U.S. 273, 277, 35 S.Ct. 383, 384, 59 L.Ed. 573 (575). It appears from correspondence of record between the city and petitioners that although the city wel......
  • Katzev v. County of Los Angeles
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    ...carefully drawn so as not unduly to impair liberty of expression, is not too vague for a criminal law. Cf. Fox v. Washington, 236 U.S. 273, 277, 35 S.Ct. 383, 384, 59 L.Ed. 573, .' We have such a statute at The trial judge correctly concluded that County Ordinance 6633 is valid. Judgment af......
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    ...of 41 to 17. This is the eighth article which the convention has adopted. Id. 132.397 U.S. 664 (1970). 133.103 S. Ct. 3062 (1983). 134.236 U.S. 273 (1915). 135. Id. at 277. 136. 249 U.S. 48 (1919). 137. 250 U.S. 616 (1919). 138. 268 U.S. 652 (1923). 139. 274 U.S. 357 (1927). 140. 133 U.S. 3......
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