Caroline Downing
9/10/09
COM-301-E1
Brown
Study Questions- Introduction and Chapter 1
1. Freedom of speech and press seem to have much more First Amendment
protection today than in 1800 because it has undergone changes with every
generation (xv). Judges do not exist in a vacuum, and the society in which
they live influence their attitudes and ideals (xiv). The combination of those
two facts would make it impossible for speech and the press to stay as
restricted as it was in the 1800s, because society itself has become more
liberal in what it accepts as appropriate. *
2. Common law is: “law not defined by explicit statutes but by judicial
decisions” (xi). This means that it is law that does not come from congress,
but rather from a decision previously made by a judge. Precedent is also
based on a decision made by an earlier judge. That decision sets up the
“common law.” Common law comes from lots and lots of case decisions over
many years.
3. King Henry VIII set up the licensing system for all publications in 1538. It
prevented the publication of unpopular decisions and created lucrative
printing monopolies. Those monopolies decided what could and could not be
printed, and gave no reason when printing was denied (1). Governments
used licensing as a way to silence dissenters by refusing them a license to
print their opinions.
