§ 71. Mr. Ben Whitakerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to amend the law to ensure that expert witnesses may be called in cases in which the owners of picture galleries are prosecuted for exhibiting pictures.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThere is a statutory right for the opinion of experts to be admitted in any proceedings under the Obscene Publications Acts in order to assist the court in deciding whether the publication was justified as being for the public good. There is no similar right in proceedings under the Vagrancy Acts, where the essence of the offence is the112W wilful exposure of obscene pictures or indecent exhibitions to the public view. I am considering whether any amendment of the law may be desirable.