Download or read book The Free Press Crisis of 1800 written by Peter Charles Hoffer and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2011-02-22 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The far-reaching Sedition Act of 1798 was introduced by Federalists to suppress Republican support of French revolutionaries and imposed fines and imprisonment "if any person shall write, print, utter or publish . . . scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States." Such a broadly and loosely defined offense challenged the freedom of the American press and gave the government the power to drag offending newspaper editors into court. The trial of Thomas Cooper in particular became an important showcase for debating the dangers and limits of the new law, one with great implications for both the new republic and federal constitutional law. Cooper's trial has now been rescued from long neglect and illuminated by Peter Charles Hoffer, one our nation's preeminent legal historians. While most modern students of the Sedition Act regard it as an extreme measure motivated by partisan malice, Hoffer offers a much more nuanced view that weighs all the arguments and fairly considers the position of each side in historical and legal context. Hoffer sets the stage by revisiting both the much better known 1735 trial of Peter Zenger and the subsequent fashioning of the First Amendment during the first meeting of the U.S. Congress.. He then describes the rise of political factions in the early republic, congressional debate over the Sedition Act, and Thomas Jefferson's and James Madison's Kentucky and Virginia Resolves. After a close reading of Cooper's allegedly seditious writings, Hoffer brings the trial record to life, capturing prosecution and defense strategies, including Cooper's attempt to subpoena President Adams and Federalist trial judge Samuel Chase's management of the prosecution from the bench. Long after the Federalists had departed the scene, echoes of the free-press crisis continued to roil American politics-reappearing in the debates over antislavery petitions, the suppression of dissent during the Civil War and two world wars, and most recently in the trials of suspected terrorists. Hoffer's book is an authoritative review of this landmark case and a vital touchstone for anyone concerned about the role of government and the place of dissent in times of national emergency.

Download or read book Reclaiming the Petition Clause written by Ronald J. Krotoszynski and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 2004 presidential campaign, when the Bush presidential advance team prevented anyone who seemed unsympathetic to their candidate from attending his ostensibly public appearances, it has become commonplace for law enforcement officers and political event sponsors to classify ordinary expressions of dissent as security threats and to try to keep officeholders as far removed from possible protest as they can. Thus without formally limiting free speech the government places arbitrary restrictions on how, when, and where such speech may occur.

Download or read book The Reality of Seditious Libel in America written by Lawrence J. Adams and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Protecting the Best Men written by Norman L. Rosenberg and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that there exists no natural, evolutionary history of free speech. It also challenges interpretations that rest upon discovering an 'original understanding' about the First Amendment. This interpretive history of the law of libel highlights the complexity and historically rooted nature of legal concepts and legal consciousness in the U. S.

Download or read book Poetics of the Pillory written by Thomas Keymer and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the lapse of the Licensing Act in 1695, Thomas Macaulay wrote in his History of England, 'English literature was emancipated, and emancipated for ever, from the control of the government'. It's certainly true that the system of prior restraint enshrined in this Restoration measure was now at an end, at least for print. Yet the same cannot be said of government control, which came to operate instead by means of post-publication retribution, not pre-publication licensing, notably for the common-law offence of seditious libel. For many of the authors affected, from Defoe to Cobbett, this new regime was a greater constraint on expression than the old, not least for its alarming unpredictability, and for the spectacular punishment--the pillory--that was sometimes entailed. Yet we may also see the constraint as an energizing force. Throughout the eighteenth century and into the Romantic period, writers developed and refined ingenious techniques for communicating dissident or otherwise contentious meanings while rendering the meanings deniable. As a work of both history and criticism, this book traces the rise and fall of seditious libel prosecution, and with it the theatre of the pillory, while arguing that the period's characteristic forms of literary complexity--ambiguity, ellipsis, indirection, irony--may be traced to the persistence of censorship in the post-licensing world. The argument proceeds through case studies of major poets and prose writers including Dryden, Defoe, Pope, Fielding, Johnson, and Southey, and also calls attention to numerous little-known satires and libels across the extended period.

Download or read book Power Publicity and the Abuse of Libel Law written by Donald M. Gillmor and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1992 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America prides itself on its freedom of expression, and it has a reputation for tightly restricted libel law. Indeed, a study of more than 600 media-related suits in the 1980s found that ninety percent were won by the media or thrown out of court before even going to trial. Even a case ending in summary judgment can cost the victorious defendant $25,000 or more, and the bill for a full trial can easily pass $100,000. The volume of libel suits has not diminished and many defendants settle out of court simply to avoid crippling costs. Clearly, writes Donald Gillmor, we are suffering a major crisis in libel law. In Power, Publicity, and the Abuse of Libel Law, Gillmor takes a revealing look at the state of libel law and offers a compelling agenda for change. He begins with a disturbing review of the abuses of libel in our times, examining both famous and little known cases. Wayne Newton, for example, won an initial $22.7 million jury award against NBC for an unflattering story--even though he went on to get a Nevada casino license, a $19 million loan, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was made grand marshal of an Independence Day parade in Washington, DC. "It was not clear," Gillmor writes, "for what NBC was being punished; the network obviously hadn't damaged Newton's reputation." Even tiny papers suffer crippling lawsuits. One 1,300-circulation publication was sued for $20 million; even though the case was dismissed, the defense cost $20,000. Such actions, Gillmor writes, dampen the fire of a free press. Lively journalism has always been an American tradition--if anything, the press was far more reckless in the days of the framers of the constitution; they often suffered its barbs even as they sought to protect it. Today it is almost impossible for the state to prosecute for seditious libel or criticism of government. But civil libel law, Gillmor shows, has taken its place in punishing verbal attacks on government officials, in spite of decisions intended to protect free speech and press (notably New York Times v. Sullivan). He proposes radical structural changes in the law to make it impossible for policymakers and celebrities to sue for libel. At the same time, he appeals to editors to ensure that those they wrong will have opportunities to respond in the media. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote long ago, the remedy to wrongs in the press "is more speech, not enforced silence." "Libel laws have become complicated almost beyond human comprehension," Gillmor writes. "The result is a profusion of libel suits, in which the only clear winners generally are libel lawyers." This provocative and revealing book illuminates a path out of the confusion and toward a safer environment for our cherished birthright, freedom of speech and press.

Download or read book Defamation and Public Officials written by Clifton O. Lawhorne and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first comprehensive study of the changes which have occurred in the law of libel over the years fills a long-felt need by journalists and others in the field of communication for a book dealing specifically with press law and public officials. However, though written primarily for the working press and students of journalism, the work will be of interest to general readers concerned with public affairs, and, through its compilation of widely-scattered information, will be useful as a reference tool for lawyers. The story of libel law, from colonial times to the present, is basically the story of courtroom battles between public officials claiming the right to a good name and private citizens claiming the right to know about and discuss public officials. As Mr. Hart points out, history shows that in the United States the law for libeling public officials has been consistently narrowed as the public's right to know about their government and discuss their leaders has broadened. Mr. Lawhorne thus traces the evolution of libel law in this country, explains the reasons for the recent liberalization of the law, and suggests some of the present dangers, in his opinion, stemming from the abuse of the law. Among the precedent-setting cases cited by Mr. Lawhorne are Garrison v. Louisiana, Dodd v. Pearson, and Goldwater v. Ginzberg. Among hisconclusions is a warning to those who disseminate information to con­fine their comments to the truth by virtue of strict ethical standards, lest the reaction to present liberal libel law lead to highly restrictive law of the future.

Download or read book A Proper Reply to a Late Scurrilous Libel written by William Pulteney Earl of Bath and published by . This book was released on 1731 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Sedition Act of 1798 and the Incorporation of Seditious Libel Into First Amendment Jurisprudence written by Christopher D. Jenkins and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Treatise on the Law of Slander and Libel written by Thomas Starkie and published by . This book was released on 1830 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Report of the trials of A M S and R Pigott for seditious libels on the government at the County of Dublin Commission held February 10 1868 with those parts of the charge of Mr Justice Fitzgerald relative to those cases and to the party processions Act Reported for the Crown by J Hill Esq Edited by T P Law written by Alexander Martin SULLIVAN (the Elder.) and published by . This book was released on 1868 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Trial of W Lovett for a Seditious Libel at the Assizes at Warwick the 6th of August 1839 Second Edition written by William Lovett and published by . This book was released on 1839 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Trial of Sir Francis Burdett Bart for a Seditious Libel written by Sir Francis Burdett and published by . This book was released on 1820 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Common Practice and the Common Law of Seditious Libel in Anglo America 1750 1791 written by Thomas D. Morris and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Dangerous Words written by Larry D. Eldridge and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book From Seditious Libel to Freedom of the Press written by Bernard Lloyd Shientag and published by . This book was released on 1942 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Talking about Seditious Libel written by Dale Alan Herbeck and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: