Truth and Privilege

Libel Law in Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, 1820-1840

Lyndsay Campbell (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

442 Seiten

2021
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-316-51069-8 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

This fascinating study analyzes the evolution of libel law in Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, in the crucible of conflicts over democratic institution-building, gender roles, slavery and other religious and social reform movements. It demonstrates how individuals shaped the law, as they navigated societal change and fought with their neighbors.

Truth and Privilege is a comparative study that brings together legal, constitutional and social history to explore the common law's diverging paths in two kindred places committed to freedom of expression but separated by the American Revolution. Comparing Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, Lyndsay Campbell examines the development of libel law, the defences of truth and privilege, and the place of courts as fora for disputes. She contrasts courts' centrality in struggles over expression and the interpretation of individual rights in Massachusetts with concerns about defining protective boundaries for the press and individuals through institutional design in Nova Scotia. Campbell's rich analysis acts as a lens through which to understand the role of law in shaping societal change in the nineteenth century, shedding light on the essential question we still grapple with today: what should law's role be in regulating expression we perceive as harmful?

Lyndsay Campbell is an Associate Professor in Law and History at the University of Calgary, and Associate Dean, Research in the Faculty of Law. She has co-edited two volumes, Freedom's Conditions in the U.S.-Canadian Borderlands in the Age of Emancipation and Canada's Legal Pasts: Looking Forward, Looking Back.

List of Tables; Foreword: The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. The Common Law's Diverging Paths; 3. The Transformation of Privilege; 4. Truth, Privacy and Authority; 5. The Individual Conscience and Blasphemous and Obscene Expression; 6. Private Defamation Suits: Courts in Everyday Life; 7. Conclusion.

Erscheinungsdatum	06.12.2021
Reihe/Serie	Studies in Legal History
Zusatzinfo	Worked examples or Exercises
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Maße	159 x 236 mm
Gewicht	882 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
	Recht / Steuern ► Rechtsgeschichte
ISBN-10	1-316-51069-7 / 1316510697
ISBN-13	978-1-316-51069-8 / 9781316510698
Zustand	Neuware