Product Description
From the Inside Flap
With the expulsion of Adam and Eve also came the first prohibitions against nudity, at least mythologically. A prohibition that early on crept into the judicial system occasionally still appearing in some contemporary judicial opinions ruling against public nudity.
Perhaps it is not surprising that the advocates o nudity in a recreational context often equate its manifestation with the paradise of the Garden of Eden.
In this volume Gordon Gill summarized 101 reported U.S. court decisions involving recreational nudity.
Author Gordon Gill first perceived a need for such a book after observing a succession of judicial decisions dealing with its legality, not all of them consistent. A bit of research revealed some early decisions - beginning in the 1930s when the American nudist movement was becoming firmly established - wherein prosecutors successfully obtained criminal judgements against persons engaging in innocuous nudity in private swimming pools, etc. Subsequently, the laws of a number of states changed so that engaging in recreational nudity on private property now is generally deemed acceptable.
As is evident from an analysis of recent cases herein, courts are rendering mixed decisions in the legality of casual nudity in public beach and park areas. The Supreme Court of Florida has held that in the absence of accompanying lascivious conduct, outdoor public nudity did not fall within the provisions of an indecent exposure statute. Similarly, the New York Court of Appeals has held that prosecutors could not apply a criminal statute governing lewd behavior to bare-breasted women enjoying public facilities in a city park. Meanwhile, other state and federal courts have proscribed casual nudity.
