时间:2018-12-30 作者:英语课 分类:法律英语 Legal Lad


英语课

by Michael W. Flynn


Today’s topic is nudity.

But first, a disclaimer: Although I am an attorney, the legal information in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for seeking personalized legal advice from an attorney licensed 1 to practice in your jurisdiction 2. Further, I do not intend to create an attorney-client relationship with any listener.


Peeping Tom or Exhibitionist?

A reader from Texas wrote:

"My wife and I recently had a "friendly" visit from a local sheriff's deputy after an anonymous 3 neighbor called to complain that he could see my wife nude 4 in our bathroom through the window. In this case, our bathroom window is about chest level and the blinds were partially 5 open. The bathroom is on the second floor of our home--none of [the] neighboring homes [are] two stories--so while it is possible someone may have seen her, it was not deliberate on her part. Of course it's legal to be nude in your own home, but is it a crime if someone can see you through a window?"

A great question. Many areas of the law pit privacy against public safety and morals, and some statutes 6 might seem downright puritanical 7. There is generally nothing wrong with being naked in a place that is private. But, when does that place become public?

Legal Prohibitions 8 on Nudity

Let’s start by answering the question first. Well reader, you are in luck! In Texas, there is no statewide law against the exposure of a woman’s breast. There are municipal codes in some cities against naked female breasts in public but none for areas outside these cities. In fact, if you are not in one of these cities, it does not seem to be a crime for your wife to march to the Piggly Wiggly topless. (I would highly recommend checking this with a criminal defense 9 attorney in Texas before trying it though.)

Texas does prohibit nudity in other forms. You can be convicted of a class C misdemeanor for exposing your anus (such as mooning someone) or genitals in a public place and are reckless about whether another person may be present who will be offended or alarmed by this act. For example, a defendant 10 was convicted for walking around naked on a beach where nudists congregated 11. There were about 100 other nudists. But, one man arrived at the beach and was offended. He called the police, and the defendant was later convicted.

Please note that there are laws in Texas that prohibit lewd 12 behavior, which would include sexual acts or actions that are lustful 13 or sexual in nature. So, a woman cannot dance topless in Texas, because it is considered more than mere 14 nudity.

What is a 'Public Place'?

Let’s return to the question of what a “public place” is for the purposes of anti-nudity and obscenity statutes. At this point, I will be discussing the rules for states other than Texas, most of which do expressly prohibit display of a bare woman’s breast. The answer seems to depend on many factors, including the wording of the law that prohibits being naked and the particular facts and surrounding circumstances.

Surely the middle of Main Street would be a public place. And your front lawn is a public place if it is visible from a public street. But, what about the inside of your own house?

Most states prohibit lewd or indecent acts if they are visible from a public vantage point. For example, a man in Georgia was convicted for masturbating in front of his window that was visible from a public highway.

In contrast, a defendant in Pennsylvania was not convicted for masturbating in his house even though he was in front of a window. The complaining neighbor could only see the defendant when looking through a window in his own house. So, the court held that the defendant was not in a public place.

One Last Thing

One last point: while it does not really help decide whether a place is public, a person’s knowledge and intent can be important too. That is, a person who knows he is visible to the public is more likely to be convicted than a person who does not know. For example, a court acquitted 15 a defendant when he walked around his house naked and was partially visible from a public street. But, the court suggested that had someone told him that he was visible, then he would have been convicted. That is because, by virtue 16 of knowing that others could see him, he would have intended to be in a place that was visible from a public vantage point.

In practice, you will not likely be prosecuted 17 for simply being naked in your own house. But, the Quick and Dirty Tip is to be very careful about where you are naked. If you do not agree with the anti-nudity statutes in your state, the best course of action is to write your local representative.

Thank you for listening to Legal Lad’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful 18 Life. You can send questions and comments to。。。。。。 or call them in to the voice mail line at 206-202-4LAW. Please note that doing so will not create an attorney-client relationship and will be used for the purposes of this podcast only.


 



adj.得到许可的v.许可,颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)
  • The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
  • Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗?
n.司法权,审判权,管辖权,控制权
  • It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
  • Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。
adj.无名的;匿名的;无特色的
  • Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
  • The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。
adj.裸体的;n.裸体者,裸体艺术品
  • It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
  • She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲
  • The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
  • The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静,宵禁部分解除。
成文法( statute的名词复数 ); 法令; 法规; 章程
  • The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
  • Each agency is also restricted by the particular statutes governing its activities. 各个机构的行为也受具体法令限制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
adj.极端拘谨的;道德严格的
  • He has a puritanical attitude towards sex.他在性问题上主张克制,反对纵欲。
  • Puritanical grandfather is very strict with his children.古板严厉的祖父对子女要求非常严格。
禁令,禁律( prohibition的名词复数 ); 禁酒; 禁例
  • Nowadays NO PARKING is the most ubiquitous of prohibitions. 今天,“NO PARKING”(禁止停车),几乎成了到处可见的禁止用语了。
  • Inappropriate, excessive or capricious administration of aversive stimulation has led to scandals, lawsuits and prohibitions. 不恰当的、过度的或随意滥用厌恶性刺激会引起人们的反感、控告与抵制。
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
n.被告;adj.处于被告地位的
  • The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
  • The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。
(使)集合,聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 )
  • The crowds congregated in the town square to hear the mayor speak. 人群聚集到市镇广场上来听市长讲话。
  • People quickly congregated round the speaker. 人们迅速围拢在演说者的周围。
adj.淫荡的
  • Drew spends all day eyeing up the women and making lewd comments.德鲁整天就盯着女人看,说些下流话。
  • I'm not that mean,despicable,cowardly,lewd creature that horrible little man sees. 我可不是那个令人恶心的小人所见到的下流、可耻、懦弱、淫秽的家伙。
a.贪婪的;渴望的
  • Adelmo agreed and duly submitted to Berengar's lustful advances. 阿德尔摩同意了并适时地顺从了贝仁格情欲的增长。
  • The lustful scenes of the movie were abhorrent to the old lady. 电影里淫荡的画面让这老妇人厌恶。
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 ); 使(自己)作出某种表现
  • The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
  • Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力
  • He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
  • You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。
a.被起诉的
  • The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
  • The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的
  • It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
  • We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。
学英语单词
A-service area
aerospace craft
augure
base loading
bases on balls
be in league to do
beehler
Bellarmino
cat-ear
catastrophic-illness
chape
cheveron notch
click-bait
closeness of relation
cold junciton
commonizes
complete limit
Conium maculatum poisoning
constantly acting load
continuous production process
critical bearing point
cyclic load-elution test
david gruns
deoxidized steel
developmental norm
differential capstan
dihaploid
dry construction
economics of consumption
edit test
edulious
elephant's ear
emptily
encrustment
entreprenetwork
epizoic
equation of state (EOS)
esophagical
family lactobacteriaceaes
fen-lich
fiber spinning
fit the action to the word
frauen
Galidzga
Ghon complex
goitrogenicity
Hanzi ink jet printer
hard-to-please
honey mouse
hoovers
humane studies
is in agreement with
k-spar (k-feldspar)
know something for a fact
Kogaku
landtied island
Letha Ra.
macromorphology
mammifer
method of spot parameter measurement
microbrachia
multipactor breakdown
nansen ridge
naren
newtons disk
non critical item
nondeterministic nested stack automaton
normal form of vector fields
nsn
osmotic effect
parastasia ferrieri formosana
pearlweeds
phylum cycliophoras
plane of uniform expansion or contraction
poltroon
power points
propyl p-hydroxybenzoate
Putnam.
Quiniluban Is.
ransack one's brain wits
repeat offender
rock soap
skeleton sledding
snapping turtle
spit venom
squooshing
Stephen's spots
stone releaser
sulpho-salt
takt time
theobromide
Thermomonosporaceae
throneroom
Tiroungoulou
tit for tat
utmost vacuum seal
verified copy
wire gauze with asbestos
with regard to
wriggle off the hook
yacoscope
yggdrasils