Title: State v. a Quantity of Copies of Books
Citation: 191 Kan. 13, 379 P.2d 254
Docket Number: 42,829
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: March 2, 1963

191 Kan. 13 (1963)
379 P.2d 254
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
A QUANTITY OF BOOKS, HAROLD THOMPSON and ROBERT THOMPSON, d/b/a P-K NEWS SERVICE, Appellants.
No. 42,829

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed March 2, 1963.
Robert A. Schermerhorn, of Junction City, and Stanley Fleishman, of Hollywood, California, argued the cause and C.L. Hoover and William R. King, of Junction City, were with them on the briefs for the appellants.
*14 William M. Ferguson, attorney general, argued the cause and Robert E. Hoffman, assistant attorney general, and William Clement, county attorney, were with him on the briefs for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
JACKSON, J.:
On July 24, 1961, William M. Ferguson, attorney general of Kansas, brought an action under the new statute which had recently been passed by the Kansas legislature in relation to obscene books and writings. He thereupon caused to be filed before the district judge in Geary county at Junction City, the county seat, an information setting out that the P-K News Service of that city had in stock and possession a quantity of paper-back books which were named in the information. We are told that the judge was given seven copies of the books for perusal before issuing the warrant for seizure. The judge's remarks about his reading of the books may be found in the transcript of the proceedings of July 25, 1961. The court did not delay in issuing the warrant under the Laws of 1961, ch. 186, sec. 4. (Now also found in G.S. 1961 Supp. 21-1102c.)
Thereafter, the sheriff of Geary county was given a search warrant and notice of hearing. Harold Thompson and Robert Thompson, owners of the P-K News Service, were given notice to appear on August 7, 1961 to determine whether the books seized were obscene. After serving the warrant, the sheriff reported and certified that he had found 1715 individual copies of the paper-back books.
On August 7, 1961, the interveners  now appellants  filed a motion to quash. The court heard arguments on this motion on August 7, and on August 11, denied the motion to quash. On August 8, the appellants moved for a continuance. This motion was granted and the court continued the case until September 14. On September 6, appellants moved that they be granted a jury trial. This was denied. Thereafter, the matter was tried to the court, and the court handed down a short memorandum opinion on September 19, 1961. We are setting out the opinion here as the clearest way of showing what the trial court thought about the case:
"MEMORANDUM DECISION
(Filed September 19, 1961)
Appellants have now appealed to this court and are asserting all of the matters urged to the trial court.
Turning to the statute (G.S. 1961 Supp. 21-1102a) we readily see that the first section contains a definition of obscenity. We believe that the test for obscenity which is provided is adequate and we are applying it in this case.
*16 It would seem that the vital question is whether these seized books were in fact obscene. The test for obscenity is not easy to state. It is said that Irvin S. Cobb was once called as an expert witness in a case of claimed obscenity. He was asked to give a definition of obscenity. His answer was: "If the depth of the dirt exceeds the breadth of the wit, then in my opinion the book is obscene."
Appellants argue that there was no evidence showing comparison of the seized books with other books in common circulation. The trial court did point out the difference between the seized books and some twenty-nine others that were taken from the Junction City public library.
The attorney general's brief contains a section in which each of the thirty-one seized books is listed by name and then the pages upon which obscenities occur are given along with a short description. We have checked the cited pages and find that they well bear out the descriptions. We would certainly agree that the books as a whole come within the definition found in paragraph 4 of the syllabus in Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1498, 77 S. Ct. 1304, where it is said:
We are of the opinion that the seized books are in fact hard core pornography. We feel certain that young G.I.'s from Fort Riley  many of whom frequent Junction City  would be of the same opinion. We believe that the seized books are obscene by the definition found in the Roth case, or by the definition found in the statute or by any other definition.
We shall now answer briefly certain other matters. First of all, obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States nor is it protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment nor, of course, under section 11 of our own Bill of Rights to the Constitution of Kansas, see Roth v. United States, supra.
The present case is not a criminal case but a civil case. The appellants are claiming that they had a right to a jury trial. If that were true, appellants would have to point out what form of action at common law formed the basis for the present suit. Both the provision in section 5 of the Bill of Rights of the state constitution *17 which reads: "The right of trial by jury shall be inviolate" and Amendment VII of the federal constitution preserve only the right of trial by jury as it existed at common law. This action grows out of a statute, and we know of no basis for it at common law. Therefore, there was no right to a jury trial.
We believe that the currently seized books are only attempts to carry pornography to the "nth" degree; that smut and obscenities seem to be the chief purpose of the books; that the story  what there is of it  is simply a framework upon which to hang the pornography. Certainly there is no literary merit in the thirty-one books seized. They are trash.
Having considered all matters raised in this case, the order will be made to affirm the trial court's ruling. It is so ordered.
PRICE and ROBB, JJ., dissent.