Ottawa, Ontario: The women of Ontario are now legally free to bare their breasts in public.

The province's top court has acquitted a woman who went for a stroll in downtown Guelph five years ago in a protest against a law she said discriminates against women on hot days.

The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that Gwen Jacob did not commit an indecent act under the Criminal Code because her actions did not "exceed the the community standard of tolerance."

Justice Coulter Osbourne said any evidence of harm to the community from her actions was "grossly speculative."

"There was nothing degrading or dehumanizing in what (Jacob) did," Osbourne wrote. "The scope of her activity was limited and was entirely non-commercial. No one who was offended was forced to continue looking at her."

Although the ruling is only binding in Ontario it might also carry weight in other provinces.

"It's great news for women. It's a victory for women's equality," said Jacob's lawyer, Margaret Buist. "What it means for women is that we have much more control over our bodies than we did before. Before this case was decided, any woman could not do exactly what a man does on a hot summer day and thats take off your shirt and walk down the street and sit in a park without fear of being labeled a criminal."

But Buist said a woman could still face chargws if she took off her top in public for commercial purposes or "in an overtly sexual context."

Jacob, who is now raising a child in Toronto, removed her T-shirt while walking home from the University of Guelph on July 19, 1991, a hot and humid day.

She was charged after the mother of several young children who saw Jacob complained to police. After a high-profile trial she was fined $75.

The 25-year-old woman issued a statement through her lawyer saying it will now be up to individual women to determine when and to what extent they wis to "express the freedom to remove our shirts."

"If we do not wish to be percieved as sex objects, we need to control the context in which we present as our bodies as sexual."

Dianne Cunningham, Ontario's minister responsible for women's issues, said she was left almost speechless by the decision.

"I think everyone will be surprised by this ruling. It is not acceptable in our society for a lot of reasons," she said.