COM 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Thomas Paine, Seditious Libel
5 Apr 2017
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Government officials could not be criticized by the public even it they were proven thieves of the public till or worse: juries could only decide on the facts of publication. Truth was not a defense against seditious libel. In fact, the more truthful the accusation, the greater the libel: the law of seditious libel was not very unpopular among the common people. It was a tool of tyrants; it covered up many illegal acts of government officials. Its time came in the colony of new york in 1730: trial of peter zenger, seditious libel in the colonies, colonial new york around 1730. England"s laws of sedition are rigorously applied in the colonies: colonial feud: the morrises and the delancies, the two most powerful families in. Governor: fox"s libel act of 1792, the effects of the zenger episode were realized in 1792 in england when charles. This doctrine came from an english jurist who had never practiced law.
