The 1959 Obscene Publications Act – which was introduced to Parliament by Roy Jenkins – made it possible to defend a charge of obscenity on the grounds of artistic merit or public good. The Chatterley trial was a major test for the new law. Various academic critics and experts, including E. M. Forster and Norman St John–Stevas, were called as witnesses, and on 2 November 1960 the jury delivered a verdict of "not guilty". The prosecution was ridiculed for being out of touch with changing social norms when the chief prosecutor, Mervyn Griffith–Jones, famously asked "Would you let your wife read this book, or your servant?"
Penguin's second edition, published in 1961, contains the following dedication: "For having published this book, Penguin Books was prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, 1959 at the Old Bailey in London from 20 October to 2 November 1960. This edition is therefore dedicated to the twelve jurors, three women and nine men, who returned a verdict of 'not guilty' and thus made D. H. Lawrence's last novel available for the first time to the public in the United Kingdom".
© Haydn Thompson 2017