Coverage note: this corpus holds the
consolidated Pa.C.S. titles only. Unconsolidated P.S. statutes (UTPCPL 73 P.S. § 201-1, Liquor Code, wage payment laws) are not included; a miss here does not mean the statute does not exist. Check
palegis.us.
CHAPTER 59
PUBLIC INDECENCY
Sec.
5901. Open lewdness.
5902. Prostitution and related offenses.
5903. Obscene and other sexual materials and performances.
5904. Public exhibition of insane or deformed person.
Enactment. Chapter 59 was added December 6, 1972, P.L.1482, No.334, effective in six months.
Cross References. Chapter 59 is referred to in sections 911, 3051 of this title; section 2101 of Title
5 (Athletics and Sports).
§ 5901. Open lewdness.
A person commits a misdemeanor of the third degree if he does any lewd act which he
knows is likely to be observed by others who would be affronted or alarmed.
Cross References. Section 5901 is referred to in section 6318 of this title; section 9718.1 of Title
42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure); sections 4503, 4601, 6137.1 of Title 61 (Prisons
and Parole); section 3113 of Title 63 (Professions and Occupations (State Licensed)).
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
44
cases (
8 in the last 5 years), 1978–2026 · leading case:
Commonwealth v. Tiffany, 926 A.2d 503 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2007).
Commonwealth v. Tiffany, 926 A.2d 503 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2007).
· cites it 6× “" 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3127(a) (emphasis added). [23] Similarly, Section 5901, pertaining to open lewdness, directs that "[a] person commits a misdemeanor of the third degree if he does any lewd act which he knows is likely to be observed by others who would be affronted or alarmed.”
Commonwealth v. Allsup, 392 A.2d 1309 (Pa. 1978).
· cites it 4× “Appellee Betty Jane Allsup was charged in an information in Philadelphia County with violation of the "open lewdness" section of the Crimes Code of 1972, 18 Pa.C.S. § 5901, and with criminal conspiracy to violate the "open lewdness" statute under 18 Pa.”
Commonwealth v. Weimer, 167 A.3d 78 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2017).
“Id, Rather, a defendant is guilty under section 6318 if he or she contacts the minor for the purpose of engaging in the prohibited behaviors criminalized in Chapter 31 and 18 Pa.C.S §§ 5901, 5902, 5903, 6312, and 6320 of the Crimes Code, in fact, the Commonwealth need not even…”
Egolf v. Witmer, 421 F. Supp. 2d 858 (E.D. Pa. 2006).
· cites it 4× “” 18 Pa.C.S. § 5901. The undisputed facts show that the Troopers had probable cause to believe Plaintiffs had violated this statute.”
Commonwealth v. Stock, 499 A.2d 308 (Pa. 1985).
· cites it 2× “" We may properly consider this classification as an aid to construction of the statute. See 1 Pa.C.S. § 1924. In examining the statutory scheme we discover that every other offense described in Chapter 59 involves indecent acts committed in public, see 18 Pa.”
United States v. Extreme Assocs., Inc., 352 F. Supp. 2d 578 (W.D. Pa. 2005).
“18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 5901. The federal obscenity statutes are not sustainable under the strict scrutiny test on the ground that they advance the state interest of protecting unwitting adults from exposure to obscene materials.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.