Studies in legal history Protecting the best men : an interpretive history of the law of libel (studies in legal history)
Type
Book
Authors
ISBN 10
0807842907
ISBN 13
9780807842904
DDC
346.7303
Category
Libel
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Publication Year
1986
Publisher
Pages
369 pages
Subject
Libel
Tags
Series Name
Abstract
From the trial of John Peter Zenger in the eighteenth century to the recent libel cases of William Westmoreland and Ariel Sharon, political defamation cases have attracted considerable attention. As Norman Rosenberg shows, cases like these raise fundamental questions about how much criticism of public leaders a supposedly open, liberal society will permit. Drawing upon a wide variety of historical sources, Protecting the Best Men 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. Instead, this interpretive history of the law of libel highlights the complexity and historically rooted nature of legal concepts and legal consciousness in the United States.
Description
The Politics of reputation in Seventeenth-Century America -- Publishers Beware! Libel Law in Eighteenth-Century America -- Framing an American Law of Libel, 1781-1797 -- The Era of the Sedation Act and First-Amendment Thought -- The Law of Libel and Early Nineteenth-Century Political Culture -- The Law of Libel in the Age of Mass Politics -- Beyond Hamiltonianism: Libel Law Debates, 1840-1880 -- Legal Science and Hamiltonian principles: Libel Law, 1880-1920 -- Libel Law from world war I to the Cold-War Era -- The law of Libel in Troubled Times -- Conclusion. An Interpretation of the History of Political Libel Law.
Biblio Notes
Includes biographical references (pages 341-357) and index.
Number of Copies
1
