California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Whitney v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco, 22 Cal.Rptr. 545 (Cal. App. 1962):
There is no reason why all the standards set up in an ordinance need be applied in any one case, particularly where, as here, the standards are set up in the disjunctive. The basic purpose of the portions of the ordinance which respondents are charged with violating is to provide a check against obscenity. The other two brackets of the ordinance deal with motion picture exhibitions or entertainments which 'create[ ] acts of violence' or 'excite[ ] race or class hatred.' Obviously a motion picture which is 'obscene' does not necessarily create violence or excite race or class hatred. Thus these two portions of the ordinance are clearly separable from the others. Respondents not having been charged with violating these portions of the ordinance cannot attack it even if it might be applied in an unconstitutional manner to another. (United States v.
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