Commonwealth v. Balthazar

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding the statute inapplicable to the private, consensual conduct of adults
• narrowing “unnatural and lascivious act” provision of G. L. c. 272, § 35, to avoid unconstitutionality
• “mouth on . . . genitals and on . . . buttocks or anus”
• §35 must be construed to be inapplicable to private, consensual conduct of adults
• statute punishing unnatural and lascivious acts does not apply to sexual conduct engaged in by adults in private, in light of “articulation of the constitutional right of an individual to be free from government regulation of certain sex related activities”
• sexual offense statute construed not to reach private consensual acts

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).