The author examines the seminal case law produced by the European Court of Human Rights on freedom of artistic expression and its ethical boundaries, and analyses why the Court has been so reluctant to support artistic freedom. The article focuses on the cardinal constitutional laws of obscene and blasphemous libel, laws which are designed to fulfil the paternalistic function of insulating the moral approaches of citizens from what is considered by legislators and judges to be undesirable corruption. Article by Paul Kearns (Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, University of Manchester) published in Amicus Curiae – Journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by SALS at the IALS (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London).