Campbell was taken by the analogy between the two situations, famously referring to the London pornography trade as "a sale of poison more deadly than prussic acid, strychnine or arsenic",[9] and proposed a bill to restrict the sale of pornography, arguing that giving statutory powers of destruction would allow for a much more effective degree of prosecution.

The bill was controversial at the time, receiving strong opposition from both Houses of Parliament, and was passed on the assurance by the Lord Chief Justice that it was "...intended to apply exclusively to works written for the single purpose of corrupting the morals of youth and of a nature calculated to shock the common feelings of decency in any well-regulated mind."

The Act also granted authority to issue search warrants for premises suspected of housing such materials.

[10] The Act did not define "obscene", leaving it to the courts to devise a test, based on the common law.

[10] The authorities appealed Hicklin's reversal, bringing the case to the consideration of the Court of Queen's Bench.

Cockburn's declaration remained in force for several decades, and most of the high-profile seizures under the Act relied on this interpretation.