Augustus Noble Hand

Augustus Noble Hand (July 26, 1869 – October 28, 1954) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and later was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. His most notable rulings restricted the reach of obscenity statutes in the areas of literature and contraceptives. He was the older first cousin of famed judge Learned Hand, who served on both courts with his cousin during most of Augustus Hand's tenure.

Education and career

Born in Elizabethtown, New York, Hand received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Harvard University in 1890, and earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1894. He then established a private practice in New York City, which he maintained until 1914.

Federal judicial service

Hand was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson on September 28, 1914, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge George Chandler Holt. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 30, 1914, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on June 1, 1927, due to his elevation to the Second Circuit. These principles, filtered through a long line of later cases, ultimately influenced the United States Supreme Court's case law on obscenity standards. Hand's cousin, Judge Learned Hand, joined in Augustus Hand's opinion; Chief Judge Martin Manton dissented.

Motion Picture Antitrust

In 1946, Hand was temporarily assigned to a three-judge panel of the New York Southern District Court for the U.S. government's antitrust case against the eight largest movie distributors. The court's per curiam decree in United States v. Paramount Pictures, 70 F.Supp. 53 (S.D.N.Y. 1946), significantly altered the motion picture industry in the United States, by forbidding the distributors from colluding with movie theaters in such anti-competitive licensing practices as price-fixing.

Cases Ochs v. Commissioner (1952)