And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones..?

Is ‘community standard’ applicable to cases of freedom of artistic expression?

Abstract

This article considers the parameters that govern the categorisation, conceptualisation and judgement of "offense" in art, and so the limits of artistic freedom. Taking a legal and internationally informed perspective, the paper charts the establishment of conventional views on artistic expression and its assumed impact on the public or "community". It questions the conceptual accuracy of legal assumptions on the nature of art, as of the nature of expression and its impact. With reference to key cases and legal rulings, the article, while invested primarily in a forensic explication of the law and its phraseology, argues that all legal limitations on artistic expression embody assumptions that are paradoxical.