Michael Bernard Rubinstein (6 November 1920 – 12 January 2001) was a solicitor who specialised in representing authors and publisher. He acted for Penguin Books in the obscenity trial in 1960, ''

R v Penguin Books Ltd. ''R v Penguin Books Ltd'' was the public prosecution in the United Kingdom of Penguin Books under the ''Obscene Publications Act 1959'' for the publication of D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel '' Lady Chatterley's Lover''. The trial took place over ...

'', following publication of an uncensored edition of

D.H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

's novel ''

Lady Chatterley's Lover ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, w ...

''.

Early life

Rubinstein was born in Kensington. His father Harold Rubinstein (1891–1975) was a solicitor with expertise in publishing matters; he acted on the unsuccessful defence of Radclyffe Hall's novel, '' The Well of Loneliness'' on obscenity charges in 1928. His mother, Lina Naomi Rubinstein, née Lowy (died 1939) was the sister of Ruth, wife of publisher Victor Gollancz. His father also wrote several plays, which were published by his brother-in-law. His younger brother

Hilary Rubinstein Hilary Harold Rubinstein (26 April 1926 – 22 May 2012) was a British publisher and literary agent. He was described by Ion Trewin in an obituary published in ''The Guardian'' as "one of Britain's premier literary agents". Early and privat ...

became a publisher and literary agent. Rubinstein was educated at St Paul's School, London. In the Second World War, he served in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

and then the Royal Artillery, being demobilized as a captain. He then studied law. He married Edna Joy Smith Douthwaite in July 1955. She was a ballet dancer, better known under her stage name Joy Boulter. They had two daughters, Imogen and Polly and two sons, Adam and Zachary.

Career

In 1948 Rubinstein joined his father as a lawyer at the family law firm Rubinstein, Nash & Co, founded by his grandfather Joseph Samuel Rubinstein in 1889. He specialised in representing publishers and authors, including

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...

, Sidgwick & Jackson,

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs ...

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

, Victor Gollancz, and Penguin Books. He acted for Penguin Books in its successful defence on charges of obscenity in 1960 following publication of an uncensored edition of

's novel ''

'', marshalling 35 witnesses to testify to the book's literary merit. He also represented several publishers in a

Restrictive Practices Court The Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to enforce competition, and provide an appropriate check on restrictive combines and practices. It required that any agreement between companies ...

case in 1962, which retained the

Net Book Agreement The Net Book Agreement (NBA) was a fixed book price agreement in the United Kingdom and Ireland between The Publishers Association and booksellers which set the prices at which books were to be sold to the public. The agreement was concerned sole ...

that maintained minimum retail prices for books. The Net Book Agreement survived until 1997, when it was declared illegal by the same court. Rubinstein acted for publishers in libel cases, including defending Leon Uris and William Kimber against a libel claim brought by Dr

Wladislaw Dering ''Dering v Uris and Others'' was a 1964 English libel suit brought by Polish-born Wladislaw Dering against the American writer Leon Uris. It was described at the time as the first war crimes trial held in Britain. Dering alleged that Uris had libe ...

in 1964 for passages in Uris's novel ''

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

'' describing medical experiments conducted by Dering on prisoners at

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. Dering was awarded was a derisory half penny in damages, but faced substantial legal costs. He was also a member of the Lord Chancellor's committee on defamation from 1971 to 1974, which made suggestions included in the Defamation Act 1996. His book ''Wicked, Wicked Libels'' was published in 1972. He retired in 1994 and died at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage. He was survived by his wife, Joy, and their four children.

Other

Rubinstein's hearing was damaged in the Second World War, but he still enjoyed music. He was a director of

Youth and Music Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

and a governor of the Purcell School. He also served the

Society for the Promotion of New Music The Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), originally named The Committee for the Promotion of New Music, was founded in January 1943 in London by the émigré composer Francis Chagrin, to promote the creation and performance of new music in ...

as trustee, chairman, and then vice-president. He published a book about music, ''Music to my Ear'', in 1985.

References

* Obituary, The Independent, 15 January 2001 * Obituary, The Times, 25 January 2001 * David Hooper, ‘Rubinstein, Michael Bernard (1920–2001)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2005; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 4 Sept 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinstein, Michael 1920 births 2001 deaths People educated at St Paul's School, London People from Kensington English solicitors 20th-century English lawyers British Army personnel of World War II Royal Engineers officers Royal Artillery officers