''Patterson v. Colorado'', 205 U.S. 454 (1907), was a First Amendment case. Before 1919, the primary legal test used in the United States to determine if speech could be criminalized was the
bad tendency
In U.S. law, the bad tendency principle was a test that permitted restriction of freedom of speech by government if it is believed that a form of speech has a sole tendency to incite or cause illegal activity. The principle, formulated in '' Patter ...
test.
[Rabban, pp 132–134, 190–199.] Rooted in English
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
, the test permitted speech to be outlawed if it had a tendency to harm public welfare.
[ One of the earliest cases the Supreme Court heard addressing punishment after material was published was 1907's ''Patterson v. Colorado'' in which the Court used the bad tendency test to uphold contempt charges against a newspaper publisher who accused Colorado judges of acting on behalf of local utility companies.][Before 1907, most free speech issues addressed ]prior restraint
Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...
rather than punishment after speaking.
See also
* List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 205
This is a list of cases reported in volume 205 of ''United States Reports'', decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1907.
Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 205 U.S.
The Supreme Court is established by ...
Footnotes
References
*Rabban, David, ''Free Speech in Its Forgotten Years'', Cambridge University Press, 1999,
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson v. Colorado
1907 in United States case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Free Speech Clause case law
United States due process case law
United States Supreme Court cases of the Fuller Court