|
|
Article: Ranters Run Amok and Other Adventures in the History of the Law.(Review)
- Article from:
- The American Prospect
- Article date:
- November 20, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 The American Prospect, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Ranters Run Amok and Other Adventures in the History of the Law, by Leonard W. Levy. Ivan R. Dee, 239 pages, $26.50.
THE LAW ACCORDING TO LEVY
In 1957 the Fund for the Republic asked a young historian to write a brief memorandum on the original understanding of the First Amendment. Leonard Levy, who was teaching at Brandeis University, examined the sources and concluded that, at the time the amendment was framed, American courts recognized the crime of "seditious libel"--criticism of the government that could be punished as a crime even if true. "Freedom of speech," he wrote, then meant only the freedom from "prior restraint" on what could be said; ...