Synopses & Reviews
"The uniquely American sense of freedom that makes the First Amendment so beloved and so respected in its homeland is precisely what makes it a difficult model for constitutional protection of expression in other political systems. In this survey of free speech policies in Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, Krotosyznski introduces American students and scholars of constitutional law to a diverse range of culturally contingent approaches to protecting the freedom of expression in other industrialized countries. . . . As Krotosyznski's fascinating project demonstrates, comparative constitutional analysis challenges us as Americans to examine critically the cultural assumptions underlying our legal system."
Jim Chen, University of Minnesota Law School
"There are very few scholars who are willing to read as widely in the law of the world as Krotoszynski, and very few who are capable of forming such confident and intelligent judgments."
James Whitman, Yale Law School
"For better or worse recent Supreme Court jurisprudence evidences a growing struggle over whether and, if so, how to address foreign court decisions. Ronald Krotoszynski's first-rate analysis of the comparative dimension of free speech issues could not be more timely. Not only does his work shed important light on free speech, but it informs as well."
Michael Heise, Cornell Law School
"Krotoszynski has produced one of the best examples of the growing literature on comparative public law. His analysis of free speech law in four modern democracies is distinctive in that it goes beyond merely describing the rules governing expression in those countries to address the deeper differences in cultural attitudes that explain the disparate legal outcomes. His sophisticated treatment of the intersecting lines of theory, doctrine, and culture makes this the most thorough and compelling assessment of comparative free speech law on the market today."
Steven G. Gey, David and Deborah FonvielleandDonald and Janet Hinkle Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law
Krotoszynski's conclusions are revealing and forcefully presented. This is especially so when they are based on the author's sophisticated and copiously documented comparison of the US with four advanced legal systems committed to participatory politics. The book undoubtedly challenges many of us who smugly accept American "exceptionalism" in freedom of speech and the press...Krotoszynski helps us appreciate the value of comparative free speech with a new, penetrating perspective."
The Law and Politics Book Review
The First Amendment and its guarantee of free speech for all Americanshas 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 asthe 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 Krotoszynski compares the First Amendment with free speech law in Japan, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdomcountries that are all considered modern democracies but have radically different understandings of what constitutes free speech. Challenging the popularand largely Americanassertion 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.
Review
“Suggests that First Amendment scholars might find it useful to consider how other nations, committed to democratic government, have sought to resolve the constant tension between protecting speech while also securing equality.”
-New York Law Journal,
Review
“An important contribution in support of constitutional exceptionalism. . . . The great gift of Krotoszynskis book is to turn our attention to a knottier subject on which there is far less consensus.”
-Michigan Law Review,
Review
“The uniquely American sense of freedom that makes the First Amendment so beloved and so respected in its homeland is precisely what makes it a difficult model for constitutional protection of expression in other political systems. In this survey of free speech policies in Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, Krotosyznski introduces American students and scholars of constitutional law to a diverse range of culturally contingent approaches to protecting the freedom of expression in other industrialized countries. . . . As Krotosyznskis fascinating project demonstrates, comparative constitutional analysis challenges us as Americans to examine critically the cultural assumptions underlying our legal system.”
-Jim Chen,University of Minnesota Law School
Review
"There are very few scholars who are willing to read as widely in the law of the world as Krotoszynski, and very few who are capable of forming such confident and intelligent judgments."
-James Whitman,Yale Law School
Review
“Krotoszynski’s conclusions are revealing and forcefully presented. This is especially so when they are based on the author’s sophisticated and copiously documented comparison of the U.S. with four advanced legal systems committed to participatory politics. The book undoubtedly challenges many of us who smugly accept American ‘exceptionalism’ in freedom of speech and the press. . . . Krotoszynski helps us appreciate the value of comparative free speech with a new, penetrating perspective.”
“Suggests that First Amendment scholars might find it useful to consider how other nations, committed to democratic government, have sought to resolve the constant tension between protecting speech while also securing equality.”
“An important contribution in support of constitutional exceptionalism. . . . The great gift of Krotoszynski’s book is to turn our attention to a knottier subject on which there is far less consensus.”
“The uniquely American sense of freedom that makes the First Amendment so beloved and so respected in its homeland is precisely what makes it a difficult model for constitutional protection of expression in other political systems. In this survey of free speech policies in Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, Krotosyznski introduces American students and scholars of constitutional law to a diverse range of culturally contingent approaches to protecting the freedom of expression in other industrialized countries. . . . As Krotosyznski’s fascinating project demonstrates, comparative constitutional analysis challenges us as Americans to examine critically the cultural assumptions underlying our legal system.”
"There are very few scholars who are willing to read as widely in the law of the world as Krotoszynski, and very few who are capable of forming such confident and intelligent judgments."
Review
“Krotoszynskis conclusions are revealing and forcefully presented. This is especially so when they are based on the authors sophisticated and copiously documented comparison of the U.S. with four advanced legal systems committed to participatory politics. The book undoubtedly challenges many of us who smugly accept American ‘exceptionalism in freedom of speech and the press. . . . Krotoszynski helps us appreciate the value of comparative free speech with a new, penetrating perspective.”
-Law and Politics Book Review,
Review
"Robert Martin's The Free and Open Press is conceptual history at its most illuminating. Recognizing that human beings live via ideas that can seem to work together in one context and to be in contradiction in others, Martin shows that many early Americans believed in both a press that would help republican government work and one in which all views could be heard. The lesson they learned—that those goals were often in profound tension—is, soberingly, one that remains true today. If that tension is to be eased, the answers must be found not only in the quantity of our rights but in the quality of our citizens."-Rogers M. Smith,Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Review
"Robert Martin has thrown a brilliant spotlight on the field of press liberty and lit up vast areas of democratic theory and practice once obscured. Looking at the century and a half leading up to the American Revolutionary era, he reminds us how decisively it shaped the vast domain of modern liberty."-Joyce Appleby,author of Inheriting the Revolution: the First Generation of Americans
Review
"The Free and Open Press ought to be required reading whenever anyone questions the meaning of the Founding Fathers, the framers of the Constitution, or other early American icons of liberty."-Journalism History,
Review
"Robert W. T. Martin revitalizes a debate over the status of press rights in eighteenth-century America that had grown tiresome over the past 20 years...all scholars of American political thought and constitutional development should read this book."-American Political Science Review,
Review
"Martin uses a number of fresh quotations and a helpful arranging and packaging of many ideas on a momentous topic."-American Historical Review,
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
The current, heated debates over hate speech and pornography were preceded by the equally contentious debates over the "free and open press" in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Thus far little scholarly attention has been focused on the development of the concept of political press freedom even though it is a form of civil liberty that was pioneered in the United States. But the establishment of press liberty had implications that reached far beyond mere free speech. In this groundbreaking work, Robert Martin demonstrates that the history of the "free and open press" is in many ways the story of the emergence and first real expansions of the early American public sphere and civil society itself.
Through a careful analysis of early libel law, the state and federal constitutions, and the Sedition Act crisis Martin shows how the development of constitutionalism and civil liberties were bound up in the discussion of the "free and open press." Finally, this book is a study of early American political thought and democratic theory, as seen through the revealing window provided by press liberty discourse. It speaks to broad audiences concerned with the public square, the history of the book, free press history, contemporary free expression controversies, legal history, and conceptual history.
About the Author
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.