Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T08:09:34.530Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - US Legal Writing on Positive Free Speech

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2021

Andrew T. Kenyon
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne School of Law
Get access

Summary

This chapter primarily examines US legal writing on free speech that uses ideas of positive freedom. The examples show how positive dimensions of free speech can be argued for even where formal law is highly negative in approaching the freedom. The examples contain repeated calls for diverse public speech that, in some way, is promoted by government. They are aware that speech arises within existing practices of communication, practices that constrain as well as enable speech; the freedom involves dialogical, social or structural interests, not only individual ones; and government always affects opportunities for speech, not only when it directly restricts speech. While the examples link speech with democracy, many do not address any communicative preconditions to democracy, such as an architecture for speech inhering in the idea of democracy itself. However, some legal writing does address just such preconditions, providing a useful introduction to the next two chapters that consider examples of courts acting in support of positive free speech precisely because the freedom is understood to be a precondition of democracy.

Type
Chapter
Information
Democracy of Expression
Positive Free Speech and Law
, pp. 117 - 138
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×