Overview

This is a fully revised and updated new edition of the classic work first published in 1985. There have been many important developments since the first edition, including enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada in 1982, the impact of the European Human Rights Convention, and the consideration by English courts of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Social and cultural changes mean that free speech claims are being made in novel contexts: to challenge the validity of bans on tobacco advertising, to publish 'kiss and tell' stories about celebrities, and to resist attempts to regulate the Internet. Barendt considers the meaning and scope of freedom of speech. How far do free speech and expression clauses protect pornography, commercial advertising, and public meetings on the streets? Does this freedom cover desecration of a national flag? Does it include nude dancing? Eric Barendt discusses the legal protection of free speech in countries including England, the United States (including recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court), Canada, Germany, and under the European Human Rights Convention. He examines the varied approaches of different legal systems and constitutional traditions to balancing free speech and freedom of the press against rights to reputation and privacy, and to copyright and explores the case law in light of the philosophical and political arguments for free speech guarantees.

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9780199244515

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Reviews

"a deeply satisfying first chapter entitled ""Why protect free speech?"", which should be read by anyone who thinks J. S. Mill said everything that needed to be said on the topic...This admirable volume is a fully revised and updated edition of the major work published in 1985. `It is one of the many virtues of this work that the various aspects of freedom of speech are kept constantly in play...This book should be on the reading list of any student of the ideologies and manners of western liberal democracies.' David Bentley (Associate Fellow in International Law at Chatham House) The World Today"

In a tour de force, Professor Barendt concisely yet comprehensively surveys the important topics and recent developments in the free speech jurisprudence of the western democracies, and does so in an eminently readable style that enhances the book's numerous scholarly insights. If I could have only three books on free speech in my collection, this would be one of them. James Weinstein, Amelia Lewis Professor of Constitutional Law, Arizona State University

In a tour de force, Professor Barendt concisely yet comprehensively surveys the important topics and recent developments in the free speech jurisprudence of the western democracies, and does so in an eminently readable style that enhances the book's numerous scholarly insights. If I could have only three books on free speech in my collection, this would be one of them. James Weinstein, Amelia Lewis Professor of Constitutional Law, Arizona State University

Author Information

Eric Barendt is Goodman Professor of Media Law at University College London.

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