Section 163 — Criminal Code: Obscene materials

Every person commits an offence who makes, prints, publishes, distributes, circulates or has in their possession for the purpose of publication, distribution or circulation any obscene written matter, picture, model, phonograph record or any other obscene thing. Every person commits an offence who knowingly, without lawful justification or excuse, sells, exposes to public view or has in their possession for that purpose any obscene written matter, picture, model, phonograph record or any other obscene thing; or publicly exhibits a disgusting object or an indecent show. [Repealed, 2018, c. 29, s. 11] No person shall be convicted of an offence under this section if the public good was served by the acts that are alleged to constitute the offence and if the acts alleged did not extend beyond what served the public good. For the purposes of this section, it is a question of law whether an act served the public good and whether there is evidence that the act alleged went beyond what served the public good, but it is a question of fact whether the acts did or did not extend beyond what served the public good. For the purposes of this section, the motives of an accused are irrelevant. [Repealed, 1993, c. 46, s. 1] [Repealed, 2018, c. 29, s. 11] For the purposes of this Act, any publication a dominant characteristic of which is the undue exploitation of sex, or of sex and any one or more of the following subjects, namely, crime, horror, cruelty and violence, shall be deemed to be obscene.