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A ( , ; pl. ''causes célèbres'', pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread
controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...
, outside campaigning, and heated public debate. The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for their
precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...
value (each '' locus classicus'' or "case-in-point") and more often negatively for infamous ones, whether for scale, outrage,
scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...
, or conspiracy theories. The term is a French phrase in common usage in English. Since it has been fully adopted into English and is included unitalicized in English dictionaries,''Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary''. S.v. "cause célèbre." Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre it is not normally italicized despite its French origin. It has been noted that the public attention given to a particular case or event can obscure the facts rather than clarify them. As John Humffreys Parry 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".


Etymology

In French, one of the meanings of is a legal case, and means "famous". The phrase originated with the 37-volume , 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 Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...
during the cementing of a period of deep cultural ties with a political tie between England and France, the Entente Cordiale. Both attracted worldwide interest and the period of closeness or rapprochement officially broadened the English language.


Examples

* The murder of Edward the Martyr, England, 978 * The
Becket controversy The Becket controversy or Becket dispute was the quarrel between Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England from 1163 to 1170.Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' pp. 401–402 The controversy culminated ...
, England, 1163–1170 * The
Tour de Nesle affair The Tour de Nesle affair was a scandal amongst the French royal family in 1314, during which Margaret of Burgundy, Queen of France, Margaret, Blanche of Burgundy, Blanche, and Joan II, Countess of Burgundy, Joan, the daughters-in-law of Philip IV ...
, France, 1314 * King Edward IV of England's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, England, 1460s and 1470s * The Princes in the Tower, England, 1483 * The murder of Lord Darnley, Scotland, 1567 * The execution of Mary Stuart, England, 1587 * The Gunpowder Plot, England, 1605 * The execution of Robert-François Damiens, France, 1757 * The Douglas Cause, Great Britain, 1760s * Ireland Shakespeare forgeries, Great Britain, 1790s * The Burr Conspiracy and ensuing show trial, United States, 1805–1807 * The Marie Lafarge case, France, 1840 * The Parkman–Webster murder case, United States, 1849–1850 * The Mortara case, Papal States, 1850s and 1860s * The Tichborne case, United Kingdom, 1860s and 1870s * The Vera Zasulich trial, Russia, 1878 * The '' R v Dudley and Stephens'' cannibalism case, United Kingdom, 1884 * The Dreyfus affair, France, 1890s and 1900s * The murder trial of Lizzie Borden, United States, 1893 * The libel trial of
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
, United Kingdom, 1895 * The murder trial of Maria Barbella, United States, 1895 * The murder trial of Adolph Luetgert, 1897 * The
Brown Dog affair The Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Britain from 1903 until 1910. It involved the infiltration of University of London medical lectures by Swedish feminists, battles between medical students and the ...
, United Kingdom, 1900s * The ''Los Angeles Times'' bombing, 1910 * The Beilis case, Russian Empire, 1913 * The Sacco and Vanzetti appeals, United States, 1920s * The
Ponzi Scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...
, United States, 1923 * The Scopes Monkey Trial, United States, 1925 * The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, United States, 1929 * The Scottsboro Boys case, United States, 1931 * The Lindbergh kidnapping, United States, 1932 * The Port Chicago disaster, United States, 1944 * The bombing of Dresden,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, 1945 * The Bhawal case, India, 1946 * The Derek Bentley case, United Kingdom, 1953 * The Petrov Affair, Australia, 1954 * The shooting of William Woodward Jr. by his wife Ann Woodward, United States, 1955 * The killing of Johnny Stompanato, United States, 1958 * The assassination of John F. Kennedy, United States, 1963 * The Tate-LaBianca murders, United States, 1969 * The Soledad Brothers case, United States, 1970 * The Thorpe affair, United Kingdom, 1970s * The Watergate scandal, United States, 1972–1974 * The disappearance of Lord Lucan, United Kingdom, 1974 * Ted Bundy's impending trial in Aspen, 1977 * The Jonestown Cult Suicide, Guyana, 1978 * The trials of Claus von Bülow, United States, 1982–1985 * The Đorđe Martinović incident, Yugoslavia, 1985 * The murder of the Goldmark family, United States, 1985 * The Rodney King beating, United States, 1991 * The murder of Shanda Sharer, United States, 1992 * The Peter Ellis trial, New Zealand, 1993 * The murder of Stephen Lawrence, London, 1993–2015 * O. J. Simpson murder case, United States, 1994–1995 * The Terri Schiavo case, United States, 1998-2005 * David Camm, United States, 2000 * The Bain family murders, New Zealand, 2004 * The Amanda Knox trials, Italy, 2009–2015 * Sergei Magnitsky's death, Russia, 2009 * Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation, Tunisia, 2010 * The
Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...
extradition, United Kingdom, 2011 * The Pussy Riot trial, Russia, 2012 * The Delhi gang rape, India, 2012 * The Causeway Bay Books disappearances, China, 2015 * The assassination of Marielle Franco, Brazil, 2018 * The assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey, 2018 * The Sea of Japan radar targeting incident, Japan and South Korea, 2018 * The murder of George Floyd, United States, 2020 * The murder of Sarah Everard, United Kingdom, 2021 * The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse after the Kenosha unrest shooting, United States, 2021 * '' Depp v. Heard'', United States, 2022 * The murder of Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe, Brazil, 2022 * The death of Mahsa Amini, Iran, 2022 * The murder of Brianna Ghey, United Kingdom, 2023 * The killing of Brian Thompson, United States, 2024 * The killing of Austin Metcalf, United States, 2025


Fictional examples

* The death of General Lamarque in '' Les Misérables'' (1832) * The prison riot in '' Natural Born Killers'' (1994)


See also

* Trial of the century * Lists of landmark court decisions * List of French expressions in English * Media circus * Missing white woman syndrome


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cause celebre 1760s neologisms Legal terminology Public opinion Social influence