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Cause célèbre

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Title: Cause célèbre  
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Collection: French Words and Phrases, Public Opinion, Trials
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Cause célèbre

A cause célèbre (; French: , famous case, plural causes célèbres) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate.[1] The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases.[2]

The term is a French phrase in common usage in English. In French, cause means, here, a legal case, and célèbre means "famous". The phrase originated with the 37-volume Nouvelles Causes Célèbres, published in 1763, which was a collection of reports of well-known French court decisions from the 17th and 18th centuries. While English speakers had used the phrase for many years, it came into much more common usage after the 1894 conviction of Alfred Dreyfus for espionage, which attracted worldwide interest. Often, politicians and social gadflies will become involved to use the media attention surrounding the case to promote their own agendas.

It has been noted that the public attention given to a particular case or event can obscure the facts rather than clarify them. As one observer states, "The true story of many a cause célèbre is never made manifest in the evidence given or in the advocates' orations, but might be recovered from these old papers when the dust of ages has rendered them immune from scandal".[3]

Notable examples of cases and events described by this term include:

See also

References

  1. ^ [1] Archived May 11, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ [2] Archived May 11, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ John Humffreys Parry, "Whistler v. Ruskin: An Attorney's Story of a Famous Trial", in The Living Age... (1921), Volume 308, p. 346.
  4. ^ "Wilde Discoveries: Traditions, Histories, Archives". Books.google.com. 2013-05-28. Retrieved 2015-07-15. 
  5. ^ Edgar Sanderson, Historic Parallels to L'affaire Dreyfus (1900), p. 265: "The unique cause célèbre of the nineteenth century, L'Affaire Dreyfus, is conspicuous for every kind of wickedness that can be brought to bear against an innocent man".
  6. ^ "Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis - Robert Weinberg". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2015-07-15. 
  7. ^ Selden (2004), p. 30. Cites Ronald Schaffer. Note: The casualty figures are now considered to be lower than those from the firebombing of some other Axis cities; see Tokyo 9–10 March 1945, approximately 100,000 dead, and Hamburg July 1943, approximately 50,000 dead (Grayling 2006, p. 20)
  8. ^ [3] Archived March 2, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Thomas Sowell, The Quest for Cosmic Justice (2001), Chapter 1: "A more recent cause célèbre of the American criminal justice system was the murder trial of former football star O.J. Simpson, which provoked widespread consternation, not only because of its “not guilty” verdict in the face of massive evidence to the contrary, but also because of the sheer length of time that the trial took".
  10. ^ Barry, Colleen. "New Amanda Knox trial under way in Florence". USA Today. Retrieved 9 July 2014. 
  11. ^ Earl, Chris. "Open letter: To Julia Gillard, re Julian Assange - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2015-07-15. 
  12. ^ "How to become a cause célèbre: a guide for political prisoners | Human rights and international courts | Politics | spiked". Spiked-online.com. 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2015-07-15. 

External links

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