The First Amendment in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Comparative Legal Analysis of the Freedom of Speech

Front Cover
NYU Press, 2009 - Law - 336 pages

The First Amendment—and its guarantee of free speech for all Americans—has been at the center of scholarly and public debate since the birth of the Constitution, and the fervor in which intellectuals, politicians, and ordinary citizens approach the topic shows no sign of abating as the legal boundaries and definitions of free speech are continually evolving and facing new challenges. Such discussions have generally remained within the boundaries of the U.S. Constitution and its American context, but consideration of free speech in other industrial democracies can offer valuable insights into the relationship between free speech and democracy on a larger and more global scale, thereby shedding new light on some unexamined (and untested) assumptions that underlie U.S. free speech doctrine.
Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr., compares the First Amendment with free speech law in Japan, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom—countries that are all considered modern democracies but have radically different understandings of what constitutes free speech. Challenging the popular—and largely American—assertion that free speech is inherently necessary for democracy to thrive, Krotoszynski contends that it is very difficult to speak of free speech in universalist terms when the concept is examined from a framework of comparative law that takes cultural difference into full account.

 

Contents

Freedom of Speech in the United States 12
Balancing Free Speech and
Militant Democracy and
Disentangling Culture
Free Speech and the Culturally Contingent Nature
Chapter 2
S Elizabeth Wilborn Malloy Ronald J Krotoszynski Jr Recalibrating
Chapter 4
Notes 223
Copyright

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The First Amendment in Cross-cultural Perspective: A Comparative Legal ...
Ronald J. Krotoszynski
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Common terms and phrases

abortion Alexander Meiklejohn Amendment apply arguing Article 21 balancing Basic Law Beer Bork BVerfGE Canadian censorship Charter rights citizens civil Clause commitment Consti Constitutionality Court of Canada Court of Japan Court’s criminal cultural decision democracy democratic self-government dignity dissenting Election enforce enjoy equality exercise Federal Constitutional Court Fiss free expression free speech claims freedom of expression freedom of speech government’s guarantee Haley hate speech interest Irwin Toy issue Itoh Japanese Constitution Japanese Supreme Court Judgment judicial review Justice Keegstra Krotoszynski Lady Chatterly’s Lover Lebach legislative limits Lords majority’s marketplace of ideas ment obscene ordinance political speech power of judicial Professor prohibition protection provision racist reasonable regulations restrictions scope Section Section 2(b sexual sion social society speech activity speech rights statute supra note supra note 16 t]he textual tion tional tradition United Kingdom United States Supreme values violated written constitution

About the author (2009)

Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr., is the John S. Stone Chair, Director of Faculty Research, and Professor of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law. He is co-author of Administrative Law.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe First Amendment in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Comparative Legal Analysis of the Freedom of Speech
Volume 77 of Critical America
AuthorsRonald J. Krotoszynski Jr., Ronald J. Krotoszynski
PublisherNYU Press, 2009
ISBN0814748252, 9780814748251
Length336 pages
Subjects › 

Law / Comparative
Law / Constitutional
Law / General
Political Science / Civil Rights
Political Science / Constitutions
  
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