R v Penguin Books Ltd

Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books Ltd. and co-defendant in the case.[1]
Courtroom diagram by Hans Schmoller from the October to November 1960 Lady Chatterley trial at the Old Bailey in London

R v Penguin Books Ltd[a] (also known as The Lady Chatterley Trial), was the public prosecution in the United Kingdom of Penguin Books under the Obscene Publications Act 1959[b] for the publication of D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. The trial took place over six days, in No 1 court of the Old Bailey, between 20 October and 2 November 1960 with Mervyn Griffith-Jones[c] prosecuting, Gerald Gardiner counsel for the defence[d] and Laurence Byrne presiding. The trial was a test case of the defence of public good provision under section 4 of the Act which was defined as a work "in the interests of science, literature, art or learning, or of other objects of general concern".

The jury found for the defendant in a result that ushered in the liberalisation of publishing, and which some saw as the beginning of the permissive society in Britain.[3]

  1. ^ Rolph, 1961, p. 35
  2. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20211112213256/https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/items_export_deferral/Expert%27s%20statement_Chatterley.pdf
  3. ^ Feather, John. A History of British Publishing. p. 205.


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