Charles Albert Oberwager (June 20, 1882 - July 17, 1945) was a lawyer and later a judge in Manhattan who presided over the case of the publication of Satyricon in 1922, ruling it was a classic book and not a pornographic book.

Biography

He was born on June 20, 1882. He attended New York University and graduated with an LL.B. in 1908. He married Anna Mariash on June 30, 1912.

Charles Albert Oberwager

As a judge he presided over the case of the publication of Satyricon and its condemnation by John Saxton Sumner of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. His 1922 ruling declared it was a classic and not pornographic. In 1926 he ruled that "women shouldn't roll their stockings down in public" and ordered a woman be put in detention for three months.

Charles Albert Oberwager

In 1932 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law by Atlantic University.

Charles Albert Oberwager

He died in Southampton, New York, on July 17, 1945. His widow died in 1987.

Footnotes

1882 births

1945 deaths

New York University alumni