COMSTOCK LAW

Comstock law (kom-stok). An 1873 federal statute that tightened rules against mailing “obscene, lewd, or las-civious” books or pictures, as well as “any article or thing designed for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortions.” • Because of the intolerance that led to this statute, the law gave rise to an English word roughly equivalent to prudery — namely, comstockery. [Cases: Postal Service  31.1.] [Blacks Law 8th]