Lex Heinze

The Lex Heinze (Latin: "Heinze Law") was a controversial law of 1900 amending Germany's Reich Criminal Code, named after the Berlin pimp Heinze, who was accused and convicted of committing "bodily injury resulting in death". It censored the public display of the "immoral" in artworks, literature and theatre and made pimping a criminal offence. After numerous public protests and resistance by several circles within the liberal middle class and the Social Democrats, the Reichstag passed a looser version of the draft law and added a "morality clause" into the Reich Criminal Code as a compromise proposal.