Abstract
For millennia, governments have struggled to harness speech so that it does optimal social good without inflicting undue harm on individuals. History reveals that in the Roman and later in the English systems that undergird American speech law, these dueling goals were served by a two-tiered conception of speech based on the community of interest within which words circulated. One tier of speech, communications on matters of personal interest within small, closed communities, was mediated by local authorities. Injurious intracommunity speech in Rome was known as iniuria; in England, as slander. A second tier of speech, communications on matters of public interest within or among large, open communities, was ultimately subject to central government regulation in Rome and England. These intercommunity speech prohibitions in Rome were known as libellis famosis; in England, as seditious or criminal libel prosecuted primarily by the Star Chamber.
Recommended Citation
Tilley, Cristina Carmody
(2011)
"Reviving Slander,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 2011:
No.
3, Article 8.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2011/iss3/8