seditious libel

(noun)

Criminal offences under English common law; overt conduct, manifested in printed forms of communication, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order.

Related Terms

  • freedom of expression
  • Freedom of expression
  • John Peter Zenger trial
  • Colonial America

Examples of seditious libel in the following topics:

  • Freedom of Expression and its Limits

    • Although there remains much work to be done examining freedom of expression in the American colonies, historians generally agree that there were fewer prosecutions for seditious libel in the colonies than there were in England.
    • However, more recent scholarship focusing on seditious speech in the 17th-century colonies has indicated that from 1607 to 1700, freedom of speech expanded dramatically, laying a foundation for the political dissent of the Revolutionary War.
    • In 1734, Cosby issued a proclamation condemning the newspaper's "scandalous, virulent, false and seditious reflections," and in November, Zenger was arrested and charged with seditious libel.
    • In the trial, Hamilton appealed directly to the jury, claiming that the truth could not be defamatory, and therefore, Zenger could not be found guilty of libel.
    • Although the judge dismissed this claim entirely, Hamilton persuaded the jury to disregard the laws on libel in favor of this concept—an argument that convinced the jury to return a verdict of "not guilty. " Therefore, not only did the Zenger Trial result in a remarkable instance of jury nullification, but it also established a precedent for protecting the freedom of the press in the American courts.
  • The Trial of Zenger

    • The Zenger Trial paved the way for freedom of the press in America by arguing that true statements could not be outlawed as libel.
    • In 1734, Cosby issued a proclamation condemning the newspaper's "scandalous, virulent, false and seditious reflections," and in November, Zenger was arrested and charged with seditious libel.
    • – The exposing therefore of Publick Wickedness, as it is a Duty which every Man owes to the Truth and his Country, can never be a Libel in the Nature of Things?
    • – it has been hitherto generally understood, that there was no other Libels but those against Magistrates and those against private Men.
    • Now to me there seems to be a Third set of Libels, full as Destructive as any of the former can probably be, I mean Libels against the People. – I have indeed often wondered that the Inveighing against the Interest of the People, and calling their Liberty in Question?
  • The "Reign of Witches"

    • The Alien and Sedition Acts were codified attempts by the Federalists to protect the United States from the anarchy of the French Revolution and from those seditious elements seeking to undermine the federal government.
  • The Adams Presidency

    • President Adams signed them into law, and they were intended as a direct political attack on the Democratic-Republicans; essentially, they were codified attempts by the Federalists to protect the United States from the anarchy of the French Revolution and from seditious individuals seeking to undermine the federal government.
  • The Socialist Presence

    • For example, the American Vigilante Patrol, a subdivision of the American Defense Society, was formed with the purpose "to put an end to seditious street oratory. "
  • The Alien and Sedition Acts

    • The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed as a codified attempt by the Federalists to protect the United States from the anarchy of the French Revolution and from those seditious elements seeking to undermine the federal government.
  • Domestic Turmoil During the Adams Presidency

    • Although Federalists argued that such a measure was necessary for national security (as it would target any seditious immigrants, such as the Irish, who were sympathetic toward the French Revolution), most historians conclude it was really intended to decrease the number of voters who disagreed with the Federalist political party.
  • A New Nation

    • These acts consisted of a series of legislative "protective" acts that prevented "aliens" with subversive intentions from spreading the insidious elements of the French Revolution to the United States, and headed off "malicious" publications or seditious speeches by Federalist opponents.
  • Civil Liberties in Wartime

    • This anti-war cartoon depicts Jesus with a halo in prison stripes alongside a list of his seditious crimes.
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