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"England Suppresses an English Novel, The Well of Loneliness." Living Age, 335:447-48, February 1929. E102
"England's Blindfold Eyes." Literary Digest, 50:100-101, 16 January 1915. E103
Comments from London papers covering the censorship of war news and the fact that the English papers are forbidden to print news which has already been published in America and Germany.
"England's Censorship Mania." Literary Digest, 44:483-84, 9 March 1912. E104
Comments on the confusion that exists between the censorship of a stage play and freedom for the play in printed form. Reference to the recent deputation headed by John St. Loe Strachey, to impose censorship on pernicious books, and the opposition to the movement by numerous authors and publishers.
Englisch, Paul. Memoiren eines Freudenmädchens (Fanny Hill) von John Cleland; Ein bibliographischer Versuch. Stuttgart, J. Püttmann, 1929. 80p. (Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Erotischen Literatur, I) E105
A bibliographical study of the often suppressed piece of English literary pornography.
"The English and Their Censor." Current Literature, 52:695-96, June 1912. E106
An account of contemporary British stage censorship which, the author claims, tends to make British drama dull.
Epps, P. H. "Who Shall Write Unbiased Textbooks." School and Society, 74:345-56, 1 December 1951. E107
The author is distressed by the implications of an announcement that the Cotton Manufacturers Association of Georgia, finding only biased textbooks on industrial relations in Southern colleges, is preparing its own book.
Epstein, Samuel B. Opinion in the Case of Franklyn S. Haiman, et al. v. Robert Morris, et al. Chicago, 1962. 15p. E108 §
A reprint of Judge Epstein's opinion in Superior Court of Cook County, Ill., finding Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer "not obscene as defined in the law, and that interference by the police in its free distribution and sale should be enjoined."
[-------]. "Statement in Support of the Freedom to Read." Evergreen Review, 6(25): cover page+, July-August 1962. (Also issued in 4-page processed form by Grove Press, New York) E109 §
A brief statement signed by authors, publishers, and booksellers in support of Judge Epstein's defense of the freedom to read in his historic decision in the Tropic of Cancer case. The opinion enjoined the Chicago and suburban police from preventing sale of the book.
"Equity--Injunction--Injury to Trade or Business--Freedom of Speech--Threat of Prosecution." Michigan Law Review, 25:74-75, November 1926. E110
A review of the decision in American Mercury, Inc. v. Chase, et al. Judge Morton granted a temporary injunction against the New England Watch and Ward Society and sustained a $50,000 damage claim against the Society for threats of prosecution against H. L. Mencken's The American Mercury. This is the famous "Hatrack" case.
"Equity Jurisdiction--Freedom of the Press--Libel." Marquette Law Review, 17:132-38, February 1933. E111
A review of cases involving equity jurisdiction in newspaper libel, beginning with the "unfortunate dicta" of Lord Eldon in Gee P. Pritchard (1818) that equity will not enjoin publication of a libel because such publication is a crime and equity has no jurisdiction to prevent crimes. The author favors the use of equity to enjoin personal libels.
Erbe, Norman A., and Arlo F. Craig, Jr. "Freedom from Obscenity." Cleveland Marshall Law Review, 10:123-35, January 1961. E112
"The purpose of this article is to discuss obscenity laws from a propitious point of view, pointing out the sound basis for their existence and enforcement, and examining some of the arguments made against them." He concludes that a more aggressive enforcement of the laws is needed "so that citizens can be assured of freedom from obscenity."
Ernst, Morris L. The Best Is Yet. New York, Harper, 1945. 291p. E113
"It has been one of the profoundly satisfactory portions of my life as a lawyer to be called upon to represent dozens of authors and publishers against censors, private or public." This leading advocate of a free press devotes two chapters in his autobiography to book censorship cases in which he participated with notable success, including Well of Loneliness, Ulysses, and the birth control pamphlets of Mrs. Dennett. He also discusses his work with the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Newspaper Guild, and his defense of the right of privacy.
-------. "Censorship by the Back Door; a Court Decision Threatens to Gag the Theatre." Theatre Guild Magazine, 6(7):11-12, 60, April 1929. E114
Reference is to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania upholding the State Board of Censorship in the Fox Film case. "If speech in a talking film drama can legally be subjected to censorship, is there anything illogical in censoring the same speech in the same drama just across the street?" Censorship of the stage is at the back door.
-------. "A Danger in Big Libel Awards." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 85(241):2C, 1 September 1963. E115
A civil liberties lawyer considers the trend toward awarding punitive damages in libel cases as a threat to the mass media. "We must promptly design a more precise definition of money punishment beyond the direct compensation of the injury done to the libeled in order to curb the carelessness of the mass media and still not imperil their very existence . . . The present explosion of punitive damages by guesswork may . . . make all organs of opinion timid and cowardly." Written in the wake of the news on the libel award against the Saturday Evening Post.
-------. The First Freedom. New York, Macmillan, 1946. 316p. E116
The author discusses freedom, or lack of it, in the American press, radio, and movies, showing that, with few exceptions, government has observed the Bill of Rights and the courts have upheld it. The greatest threat today comes from the control of the mass media by private monopolies that need to be checked by public opinion, legislation, and enforcement of the antitrust laws. He gives a detailed account of historic court cases, including many in which he participated.
-------. "Freedom to Read, See and Hear." Harper's Magazine, 191:51-53, July 1945. (Reprinted in Lorch, Of Time and Truth, pp. 333-37) E117
Freedom of speech and of the press means more than freedom for the speaker or writer, it means "freedom for the rest of us to read and to hear; and that includes, if it is to be effective, chances to get information and ideas from a number of sources." We must prevent a few powerful agencies from monopolizing the American public's access to news and ideas. Ernst suggests a number of methods for restoring the right of diversity.
-------. "The Importance of Diversity." Grassroots Editor, 5(4):3-6, October 1964. E118 §
Excerpts from the Sigma Delta Chi lecture at the International Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors, Southern Illinois University. Ernst deplores the reduction in number of newspapers, the control of the air waves by three men, and other trends which limit diversity of ideas in America. He calls for a national inquiry into the communications media, along the lines of the British press inquiries.
-------. "Radio Censorship and the Listening Millions." Nation, 122:473-75, 28 April 1926. E119
Criticism of legislation before Congress which would regulate radio for private profit and stabilization of investment, without regard for protection of free speech. Ernst outlines amendments recommended by the American Civil Liberties Union which would prevent station censorship, prevent domination of radio by two or three large concerns, and insure the free expression of public opinion.
-------. "Reflections on the Ulysses Trial and Censorship." James Joyce Quarterly, 3(2):3-11, Fall 1965. E120 §
Reminiscences of the James Joyce Ulysses trial of 1933, written in 1959 by the attorney who defended the book.
-------. "Sex Wins in America." Nation, 135:122-24, 10 August 1932. E121
The article depicts the period from 1870 until 1920 during which campaigns were conducted against everything connected with sex. "Censorship spread over the land like a prairie fire." Before this period most taboos were against blasphemy, or were applied only to certain groups, such as literature appropriate for women. After 1920 the first real signs of a shift appeared in the legal attitudes toward sex in literature.
-------. "The So-Called Market Place of Thought." Bill of Rights Review, 2:86-91, Winter 1942. E122
There are two major effective barriers to the realistic expansion of the idea of the market place of thought--the disclosure of the identity of our sources of knowledge, and the interference with the diversity of these sources.
-------. So Far So Good. New York, Harper, 1948. 271p. E123
A sequel to The Best Is Yet, with further references to cases on freedom of the press.
-------. "Some Aspects of Censorship." Wilson Library Bulletin, 39:668-69, April 1965. E124
In place of legal censorship and vigilante efforts, the tawdriness in the mass media, particularly the sadistic fare on television, should be corrected by cross-criticism. Since "corporations can't blush," protests against unwholesome and debilitating programs should be aimed personally at the heads of the networks--David Sarnoff, William S. Paley, or Leonard Goldenson.
-------. "Who Shall Control the Air?" Nation, 122:443-44, 21 April 1926. E125
"For the first time in history the problem of free speech becomes an administrative problem, for the Government controls the licensing of stations and the distributing of wave lengths." Censorship is exercised by the selection of concerns that are permitted to go on the air and by action of the stations themselves.
-------. "Why Not a First Freedom Treaty?" Survey Graphic, 35:445-48+, December 1946. E126
"With nations not totalitarian we are ready now to write First Freedom Treaties based on the reciprocal theory of the Hull Trade Treaties, but this time dealing exclusively with the commodities of the mind--books, magazines, newspapers, radio, movies, and so on." Specifically Ernst calls for the abolition of postage rates and tariffs on books, magazines, and newspapers, a priority given to the free flow of currency used in the mass media, and for the United States to join the Berne International Copyright Convention.
Ernst, Morris L., and A. J. Katz. "Speech: Public and Private." Columbia Law Review, 53:620-31, May 1953. E127
"The speech with which we are concerned here is only that speech which has as its object an illegal end . . . the spread of thought by print, the air-waves, celluloid or the vocal cords." A distinction is made between public speech which "attempts to create a majority will," and secret or covert speech "which attempts to undermine it." The authors recommend protection of open public speech but not of secret speech, to which the "overt act" test should apply. Secret speech may drive out the more socially desirable free and open discussion.
Ernst, Morris L., and Alexander Lindey. "The Censor Marches On . . ." Esquire, 11:42, 174-77, June 1939; 12:49, 108-12, July 1939; 12:58-59, 142-45, August 1939; 12:76-77+, September 1939. E128
A series of four articles "on the Puritan's progress, and setbacks, in the war on freedom in art." I. A review of some of the obscenity cases in the courts beginning with Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin (1916), the Madeleine case (1920), and some of the cases introduced by the New York and Boston vice societies. II. "So it was ruled that books be judged by their effect on normal people, not the immature, the subnormal or insecure." This article deals with U.S. Customs censorship, the Ulysses case, and the banning of James T. Farrell's A World I Never Made. III. "A list of the works that were banned during the last three thousand years reads like civilization's honor roll." IV. "Censorship proceeding from coercion is stupid, dangerous, and from the censor's own point of view, futile."
-------. The Censor Marches On; Recent Milestone in the Administration of the Obscenity Law in the United States. New York, Doubleday, Doran, 1940. 346p. E129
A sequel to To The Pure . . ., with emphasis on censorship cases taking place between 1925 and 1940. The authors present a spirited protest against arbitrary action of government and private groups guarding sex expression in literature. Present laws against obscenity are adequate to take care of the public morals. Precensorship of movies comes in for special criticism. The Broadcasters' Code and Motion Picture Code are reproduced on pages 313-28. Substantially the same text as the articles that appeared in issues of Esquire during 1939.
-------. Hold Your Tongue! Adventures in Libel and Slander. New York, Abelard, 1932. 357p.; London, Methuen, 1936. 312p.; Rev. ed. 1950. 304p. (English edition has introduction by A. P. Herbert) E130
A popular account of libel and slander, illustrated with historic cases involving the spoken and printed word and such prominent figures as Theodore Roosevelt, James McNeill Whistler, John Ruskin, James Fenimore Cooper, and Oscar Wilde. There is a detailed account of the libel case involving the New York World, the result of its Panama Canal Zone investigations that took place in the early 1900's.
-------. "Strange Fruit and Forever Amber." Author, Playwright and Composer, 57:19-21, Winter 1946. E131
The Strange Fruit decision in Massachusetts is "an astonishing document." While exuding "reasonableness, liberality, and tolerance," the decision against the work came as an anticlimax. Forever Amber is yet to be tried under the new obscenity act. (Forever Amber was subsequently freed.)
Ernst, Morris L., and Pare Lorentz. Censored: The Private Life of the Movies. New York, Cape & Smith, 1930. 199p. E132
The foibles of motion picture censorship in the United States are revealed in this irreverent indictment of the political guardianship of public morals. Heywood Broun, in his introduction to the book, suggests that the authors could almost have proved their case by printing the pictures of the censors.
Ernst, Morris L., and Gwendolyn Pickett. Birth Control in the Courts; a Résumé of Legal Decisions Clarifying and Interpreting Existing Statutes. New York, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 1942. 58p. plus 19p. mimeo. E133
Ernst, Morris L., and Alan U. Schwartz. Censorship; the Search for the Obscene. With an introduction by Philip Scharper. New York, Macmillan, 1964. 288p. (Milestones of Law Series) E134
"This new volume treats with the Law of the Obscene--its origins in our culture, the forces that shaped it and are still shaping it, and above, all, the pivotal opinions--pro and con--rendered by judges high and low." Beginning with a survey of sexual folkways, the authors discuss some of the early legal cases in England and America (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Sharpless, 1815, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Holmes, 1821, the latter for Fanny Hill), early statutes here and abroad, the introduction of the Comstock laws, and various efforts of the courts to define "obscene" and to find a solution to the problem. In a chapter entitled Cowboys and Indians the authors discuss the "vigilantism" of private censorship groups. The work quotes widely from actual judicial opinions. An appendix entitled Lagniappe presents a modern obscenity case in its pristine state, with all the citations, footnotes, and other assorted gobbledygook left in for the amusement and instruction of the reader.
-------. Privacy: The Right to Be Let Alone. New York, Macmillan, 1962. 238p. (Milestones of Law Series) E135
The legal dilemma of two basic American rights: the right of the individual to be let alone and the right of the public to be informed. The authors discuss a new legal concept and consider "whether existing law affords a principle which can properly be invoked to protect the privacy of the individual; and, if it does, what the nature and extent of such protection is."
Ernst, Morris L., and William Seagle. "The Subterranean Censorship." Bookman, 68:36-40, September 1928. E136
How the English circulating libraries selling three-volume novels were able to maintain effective censorship for many years by banding together to refuse to place on their shelves any book which one of them considered immoral. There are also references to methods of subterranean censorship practiced by public libraries.
-------. To the Pure . . . a Study of Obscenity and the Censor. New York, Viking, 1928. 336p. (Chapter on "Sex Control" reprinted in McDermott, Sex Problems in Modern Society, pp. 389-404) E137
A lively presentation of the case against literary censorship, giving historical background on freedom of expression in matters pertaining to sex. The lawyer-authors show the contradictions and absurdities, the follies of the crusaders, and the vagaries of the courts. The appendix contains excerpts from important court decisions, lists of books banned by various authorities, Annie Besant's list of offending Bible passages, and Henry Vizetelly's list of English classics which should logically be suppressed.
Erskine, John. "Censorship." Century Magazine, 113:629-30, March 1927. E138
Erskine objects to any proposed censorship of the theater or of literature.
-------. "Literary Discipline: Decency in Literature." North American Review, 216:577-91, November 1922. (Also in his The Literary Discipline, Indianapolis, Bobbs Merrill, 1923, pp. 3-43) E139
The author finds censorship in the area of morals difficult to perform because of changing notions of decency and a lack of fixed definitions. "The role of the censor would take on some dignity if there ever were a censor who was a connoisseur, who was the patron of good poets and painters, who actually supported a clean stage." But such a person, he decides, would hardly devote his life to detecting indecency. "Human nature is wiser in the long run than any censor; in the long run the books of the highest decency hold their place in fame by crowding out the others. The public suppresses indecent books by reading decent ones." The censor, on the other hand, is so preoccupied with evil he fails to notice the good.
Erskine, Thomas Erskine, Baron. The Celebrated Speech of the Hon. T. Erskine, in Support of the Liberty of the Press. Delivered at Guild hall, December 18, 1792 . . . to Which is Prefixed a Preface by a Scotch Member of Parliament. Edinburgh, J. Buel, 1793. 68p. (Reprinted in Erskine's Works, Ridgway edition, vol. 2, pp. 87-182) E140
Erskine's speech before the Court of King's Bench in the trial of Thomas Paine (in absentia) for seditious libel in the publication of the second part of Rights of Man. The jury showed its contempt of Paine and his counsel by reaching a verdict without leaving the chamber, but the crowd outside gave Erskine a rousing cheer and bore him from the Guildhall on their shoulders.
-------. Christianity Vindicated in the Admirable Speech of the Hon. Tho. Erskine, in the Trial of T. Williams, for publishing Paine's "Age of Reason." 24th June, 1797. From the Twelfth London Edition. Philadelphia, Printed by J. Carey for G. Douglas, 1797. 24p. (Reprinted in Erskine's Works, Ridgway edition, vol. 2, pp. 185-204) E141
One of the many reprints of Erskine's antiblasphemy speech, widely circulated in various countries by Paine's detractors.
-------. The Rights of Juries Vindicated. The Speeches of the Dean of St. Asaph's Counsel. London, 1785. 81p. (Reprinted in Erskine's Works, Ridgway edition, vol. 1, pp.151-393) E142
Erskine defended William Davies Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph, charged with libel for publishing a tract on representative government written by his brother-in-law, Sir William Jones. Justice Francis Buller ruled that the jury should decide only the fact of publication, leaving to the court the decision as to whether or not it was libelous. Erskine objected to this view, arguing for expanded rights of juries. His views were widely publicized in the campaign for the adoption of the Fox Libel Act of 1792.
-------. The Speech of the Hon. Thomas Erskine, at a Meeting of the Friends to [sic] the Liberty of the Press, at Free-Mason's Tavern, Dec. 22, 1792. With the Resolutions, etc. of that Patriotic Society. London, Printed for James Ridgway, 1792. 16p. (Reprinted in Erskine's Works, Ridgway edition, vol. 4, pp. 427-42) E143
Erskine, who had just lost his case in defense of Thomas Paine for publication of Rights of Man, joined in the formation of this group made up of men who were concerned with preserving freedom of the press in the face of the hysteria over sedition. The organization hoped to counteract the vigilante tactics of the Association for Preservation of Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers and to protest against the persecution of the press by the antisedition campaign of the Pitt government. Erskine's talk was actually given at the second meeting, held 19 January 1793 at Crown and Anchor Tavern, and it was adopted as a Declaration on Freedom of the Press. At a third meeting, 9 March 1793, arrangements were made for fund raising and wide distribution of the Declaration. The proceedings of the Society and the declaration appear in many contemporary editions and in the various editions of Erskine's speeches.
-------. The Speeches of the Hon. Thomas Erskine, in the Court of King's Bench, June 28, 1797, before the Right Hon. Lloyd Lord Kenyon and a Special Jury, on the Trial: the King versus Thomas Williams, for Publishing the Age of Reason, Written by Thomas Paine; together with Mr. Stewart Kyd's Reply, and Lord Kenyon's Charge to the Jury. London, Printed for J. Debrett, 1797. 24p. (Also in Howell, State Trials, vol. 26, pp. 653 ff.; Erskine's Speeches, Ridgway edition, vol. 2, pp. 185-204) E144
Thomas Erskine, who had earlier (1792) defended Thomas Paine in the sedition charge against his book, Rights of Man, appears here for the prosecution. He had accepted the assignment at the request of the Society Opposed to Vice and Immorality. Erskine acknowledges that he cannot grant the same freedom to attack the Christian religion that he grants to attack the authority of the state. He objects to Age of Reason because it treats the Christian faith "with the most shocking contempt." To attack the Christian religion in order to promote civil liberties he believes is false, for these liberties are founded on the Christian ethic. Williams, a poor bookseller, was found guilty and given three years in prison. Erskine returned his fee when the Society refused to recommend leniency. In consideration of the destitution of the Williams family, Erskine persuaded the judge to reduce the sentence to one year.
-------. The Speeches of the Hon. Thomas Erskine (now Lord Erskine), when at the Bar, on Subjects connected with the Liberty of the Press, and against Constructive Treasons. Collected by James Ridgway. London, Printed for J. Ridgway, 1810. 4 vols. (A fifth volume was published in 1812.) (Reprinted in two volumes by Reeves and Turner, London, 1870) E145
Erskine was a British jurist and trial lawyer who devoted his skills and eloquence during the 1790's to defense of the freedom of the press. This was during a period when mass hysteria swept England as a result of the French Revolution. Erskine defended Thomas Paine's Rights of Man against charges of sedition; he defended John Horne Tooke and Thomas Hardy, charged with high treason for their publishing activities. His defense of the Dean of St. Asaph led to the revision of the British libel laws. Erskine, believing in the natural right of man, opposed the traditional view of the libel laws as exemplified by the interpretation of Blackstone. Erskine's speeches are classics in the defense of the freedom of the press.
"Erskine on the Limits of Toleration." Secular Thought, 37:51-55, February 1911. E146 §
Ervine, St. John G. Francis Place, the Tailor of Charing Cross. London, The Fabian Society, 1919. 27p. (Fabian Tract no. 165) E147
Place (1771-1854) was active in both the English birth control movement and the efforts to remove the tax from newspapers.
Esbensen, Thorwald. "How Far Have the Book Burners Gone?" School Executive, 76:69-71, May 1957. (Condensed in Education Digest, October 1957) E148
The South Dakota Free Library Commission has issued a list of some 150 authors "not to be purchased, not to be circulated and not to be mended or repaired." It includes such unliterary old favorites as Tom Swift, Uncle Wiggily, The Bobbsey Twins, and the Oz books. The author relates numerous other restrictions placed on book selection in school libraries, including a South Carolina legislative ban on The Swimming Hole because of integrated swimming; the Galion, Ohio, school board order to store all novels until they could be screened for moral content; the case of Mrs. Ada White of the Indiana Textbook Committee, who attempted to ban Robin Hood; and the case of Mrs. Anne Smart of Larkspur, Calif., whose book burning crusade included the following authors: Carl Sandburg, Sherwood Anderson, John Hersey, Pearl Buck, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Escott, T. H. S. Masters of English Journalism; a Study of Personal Forces. London, Unwin, 1911. 868p. E149
Includes reference to the work of the following journalists involved in issues on freedom of the press: John Almon, William Cobbett, Daniel Defoe, John and Leigh Hunt, Roger L'Estrange, John Wilkes, and Henry Woodfall.
Esquire. A Summary of the Essential Facts in the Case of Esquire v. Postmaster General, together with a Selection of Representative Press Comments. [New York, Esquire, 1944]. 47p. E150
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1946 ruled in behalf of Esquire, limiting the power of the Postmaster General to censor magazines by means of the withdrawal of second-class mailing privileges.
"The Esquire Case. A Novel Extension of the Postmaster General's Power of Classifying the Mail." Yale Law Journal, 53:733-57, September 1944. E151
Esterquest, Ralph T. "Books Stand Trial in Oklahoma." Progressive Librarians' Council Bulletin, 3:5, December 1941. E152
An account of the Oklahoma trials for criminal syndicalism of persons accused of owning subversive books.
Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, N.J. ["Statement on Censorship"]. In Library Journal, 88:2218, 1 June 1963. E153
The statement applies specifically to the freedom of reading by teenagers and was prepared by the group to combat pressures in Paterson and East Paterson to restrict their reading.
Ethridge, Mark F. "The Government and Radio." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 213:109-15, January 1941. E154 §
A newspaperman and former president of the National Association of Broadcasters examines some of the basic differences between the Federal Communications Commission and the broadcasters as to the extent to which government regulation of radio broadcasting should go.
-------. "Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid?" Nieman Reports, 7(3):3-6, July 1953. E155
In a Kentucky State College commencement address, 2 June 1953, the publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal decries the fear of subversion that pervades America and threatens our historic freedom of speech and press. America's strength lies in this freedom and those who, in their hysterical drive for security, abridge this freedom are creating real subversion by their acts.
Evans, B. Ifor. "The Lessons of the Areopagitica." Contemporary Review, 166:342-46, December 1944. E156
A tribute to Milton's Areopagitica on the 300th anniversary of its publication, together with a study of Milton's plea for unlicensed printing as applied to modern conditions. "If England is to be mentally alive in a free and vigorous atmosphere after the war the press must be released from the tyranny of power without responsibility and radio from the dull compromises which have resulted from State monopoly."
Evans, Bergen. "The Storm over Lady Chatterley's Lover." Coronet, 47:144-50, December 1959. E157
[Evans, E. W., and John Lyle King]. Speeches of E. W. Evans and John Lyle King, Counsel for the plaintiff in the Wilkinson-Tribune Libel Suit. Circuit Court of Cook County [I11.] December term, 1868. George Buckley, Reporter. Chicago, Round and James, Printers, 1869. 92p. (Bound with The Chicago Tribune as A Libeler of Men, A Defamer of Women, and A Menacer of Courts and Juries, by A. C. Ellithorpe. 15p.) E158
Mrs. Frances M. Wilkinson, a Civil War widow, brought suit against the Tribune for libel because of an article suggesting she had been intimate with her married landlord. The Tribune was found guilty and assessed damages of $7,500. The case is of interest because of the issue of freedom of the press that appeared in the speeches of counsels for plaintiff and defense and in the judge's introduction to the jury. On 1 January 1869 the Tribune carried an article on the trial, headed A Malicious Verdict. It said, in part, "It is in behalf of the freedom of the press--in behalf of the freedom of every other paper in the country, and in behalf of the liberty of the people themselves--that we arraign this verdict as an embodiment of an ignorance whose stolidity is only equalled by its personal malignity."
Evans, Luther H. "The Challenge of Censorship." In Louis Shores, Challenges to Librarianship. Tallahassee, Fla., Florida State University Press, 1953, pp. 39-54. (Florida State University Studies no. 12) E159
Evans, then Librarian of Congress, discusses the fear and suspicion that prompts censorship. Many would-be defenders of the Bill of Rights have used specious arguments to justify abridgments of these very rights. Political censors are "cowards unwilling to live the American dream."
-------. "The Problem of Censorship in Public Libraries." Library of Congress Information Bulletin, 11(23):1-2, appendix 1, 2 June 1952. E160
[Evans, Thomas A.]. Nelson's Sword v. Lord Denman's Law; or, What Is Libel? Being Illustrations of the Summing-up of the Judge, the Shrewdness of Counsel, the Triumph of the Times, and Sagacity of the Eminent Solicitor of that Impartial Journal, as Displayed in the Recent Trial of Evans v. Lawson for Libel . . . London, T. A. Evans, 1848. 45p. E161
Evans, Thomas W. "New Freedom of Speech in Politics." New York Law Forum, 10:333-49, September 1964. E162
"The purpose of this article is to review the historical development of absolute privilege and to examine the consequences which the recent extension in this state will have on the pleading and proof of defamation actions. An attempt will also be made to define the effect which the changed status of the law is likely to have on the conduct of a political campaign and political criticism." Regarding Sullivan v. New York Times.
"Everybody's Business." Aurora, 1:42, 22 August 1834. E163
A brief editorial on freedom of the press. "The free press is everybody's business--its freedom is established in the great compact of July 4, 1776. Its freedom is essential to a free state--and that freedom comprehends the right of individual judgment upon all subjects which are within the reach of the human mind."
"Examining the Examiner." Nation, 89:147, 12 August 1909. E164
Review of the testimony of George A. Redford, examiner of plays in England, given before the Joint Committee of Lords and Commons on the Censorship.
"Excitement in the South." Niles Register, 38:87-88, 27 March 1830. E165
Mayor Harrison Gray Otis of Boston sends a letter of apology to the mayor of Savannah, Ga., expressing his "deep abhorrence" and his legal inability to restrain a "free black man" of Boston from sending inflamatory pamphlets (urging slave revolts) into that state. Also quoted is a bill before the Georgia General Assembly prohibiting printing, writing, or circulating any publication advising slave rebellion, and prohibiting the teaching of slaves to read or write. The bill passed the House but was rejected by the Senate.
"Expanding Postal Powers." Columbia Law Review, 38:474-92, March 1938. E166
An inquiry into the content and limitations of the power of Congress in the regulation of the mails. The article discusses the legal history of the postal system, the power of Congress to encourage or discourage use of the mails, the limitations on postal power imposed by the Bill of Rights, and the power of the states with respect to the mails.
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