The Revolution in Freedoms of Press and Speech

The Revolution in Freedoms of Press and Speech
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 409
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780197509197
ISBN-13 : 0197509193
Rating : 4/5 (97 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Revolution in Freedoms of Press and Speech by : Wendell Bird

Download or read book The Revolution in Freedoms of Press and Speech written by Wendell Bird and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the revolutionary broadening of concepts of freedom of press and freedom of speech in Great Britain and in America in the late eighteenth century, in the period that produced state declarations of rights and then the First Amendment and Fox's Libel Act. The conventional view of the history of freedoms of press and speech is that the common law since antiquity defined those freedoms narrowly, and that Sir William Blackstone in 1769, and Lord Chief Justice Mansfield in 1770, faithfully summarized the common law in giving a very narrow definition of those freedoms as mere liberty from prior restraint and not liberty from punishment after something was printed or spoken. This book proposes, to the contrary, that Blackstone carefully selected the narrowest definition that had been suggested in popular essays in the prior seventy years, in order to oppose the growing claims for much broader protections of press and speech. Blackstone misdescribed his summary as an accepted common law definition, which in fact did not exist. A year later, Mansfield inserted a similar definition into the common law for the first time, also misdescribing it as a long-accepted definition, and soon misdescribed the unique rules for prosecuting sedition as having an equally ancient pedigree. Blackstone and Mansfield were not declaring the law as it had long been, but were leading a counter-revolution about the breadth of freedoms of press and speech, and cloaking it as a summary of a narrow common law doctrine that in fact was nonexistent. That conflict of revolutionary view and counter-revolutionary view continues today. For over a century, a neo-Blackstonian view has been dominant, or at least very influential, among historians. Contrary to those narrow claims, this book concludes that the broad understanding of freedoms of press and speech was the dominant context of the First Amendment and of Fox's Libel Act, and that it enjoyed greater historical support.


The Revolution in Freedoms of Press and Speech Related Books

The Revolution in Freedoms of Press and Speech
Language: en
Pages: 409
Authors: Wendell Bird
Categories: Law
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book discusses the revolutionary broadening of concepts of freedom of press and freedom of speech in Great Britain and in America in the late eighteenth ce
Press and Speech Under Assault
Language: en
Pages: 565
Authors: Wendell R. Bird
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The early Supreme Court justices wrestled with how much press and speech is protected by freedoms of press and speech, before and under the First Amendment. Thi
Revolutionary Dissent
Language: en
Pages: 368
Authors: Stephen D. Solomon
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-04-26 - Publisher: St. Martin's Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

When members of the founding generation protested against British authority, debated separation, and then ratified the Constitution, they formed the American po
The Revolution in Freedoms of Press and Speech
Language: en
Pages: 409
Authors: Wendell Bird
Categories: Law
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-02-28 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book discusses the revolutionary broadening of concepts of freedom of press and freedom of speech in Great Britain and in America in the late eighteenth ce
Policing Public Opinion in the French Revolution
Language: en
Pages: 349
Authors: Charles Walton
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-02-02 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, French revolutionaries proclaimed the freedom of speech, religion, and opinion. Censorship was