Kingsley International Pictures Corp. v. Regents 360 U.S. 684 (1959)

• Author: Steven Shiffrin
• Pages: 1538

Page 1538

In Kingsley International Pictures Corp. v. Regents the state of New York had refused to issue a license for the motion picture Lady Chatterley's Lover because it "alluringly portrays adultery as proper behavior." There was no claim that the film constituted an INCITEMENT TO UNLAWFUL CONDUCT. Without deciding whether all licensing schemes for motion pictures were unconstitutional the Supreme Court held that the refusal to grant this license violated the FIRST AMENDMENT. The Court reaffirmed that motion pictures were within the scope of the First Amendment and proclaimed that the amendment's "basic guarantee" is "the...