cause célèbre

{{Short description|Issue or incident which incites widespread controversy and public debate}}

File:Tom Mooney and Angelo Herndon 1937 Edit.jpg and Angelo Herndon {{circa}} 1937. Both men became causes célèbres for the American Left in the first half of the 20th century.]]

A {{lang|fr|cause célèbre}} ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɔː|z|_|s|ə|ˈ|l|ɛ|b|(|r|ə|)|audio=en-us-cause-célèbre.ogg}} {{respell|KAWZ|_|sə|LEB(|rə)}},{{Cite web |title=cause célèbre |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=TheFreeDictionary.com |language=en}} {{IPA|fr|koz selɛbʁ|lang}}; pl. causes célèbres, pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate.{{cite encyclopedia |entry=cause célèbre |dictionary=The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy |edition=3rd |editor1-first=E. D. Jr. |editor1-last=Hirsch |editor2-first=Joseph F. |editor2-last=Kett |editor3-first=James |editor3-last=Trefil |date=2002 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |via=Bartleby.com |url=http://www.bartleby.com/59/4/causecelebre.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921150757/http://www.bartleby.com/59/4/causecelebre.html |archive-date=September 21, 2008 |title=Telecommunications Essay | Bartleby}} The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for their precedent value (each locus classicus or "case-in-point") and more often negatively for infamous ones, whether for scale, outrage, scandal, or conspiracy theories.{{cite encyclopedia |entry=cause célèbre |dictionary=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |edition=4th |date=2000 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |via=Bartleby.com |url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/31/C0173100.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803114311/http://www.bartleby.com/61/31/C0173100.html |archive-date=August 3, 2008 |title=Homework Help and Textbook Solutions | bartleby}} 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,{{Cite web |title=cause célèbre |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=TheFreeDictionary.com |language=en}}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".John Humffreys Parry, "Whistler v. Ruskin: An Attorney's Story of a Famous Trial", in The Living Age (January–March 1921), Vol. 308, p. 346.

Etymology

In French, one of the meanings of {{lang|fr|cause}} is a legal case, and {{lang|fr|célèbre}} means "famous". The phrase originated with the 37-volume {{lang|fr|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 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, England, 1163–1170
The Tour de Nesle affair, 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{{cite book|title=The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara|last=Kertzer|first=David I|author-link=David Kertzer|year=1998|orig-year=1997|location=New York|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=978-0-679-76817-3|pages=126–127}}
The Tichborne case, United Kingdom, 1860s and 1870s
The Vera Zasulich trial, Russia, 1878{{cite book |editor-first=Joseph |editor-last=Bristow |title=Wilde Discoveries: Traditions, Histories, Archives |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-6570-5 |year=2013 |chapter=Reconsidering Wilde's Vera; or, The Nihilists |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt4cgj7t |last=Miller |first=Elizabeth Carolyn |pages=65–84|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt4cgj7t }}
The R v Dudley and Stephens cannibalism case, United Kingdom, 1884
The Dreyfus affair, France, 1890s and 1900s{{cite book|last=Sanderson|first=Edgar|title=Historic Parallels to L'affaire Dreyfus|year=1900|page=265|quote=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.}}
The murder trial of Lizzie Borden, United States, 1893
The libel trial of Oscar Wilde, United Kingdom, 1895
The murder trial of Maria Barbella, United States, 1895{{cite book |title=The rise of multicultural America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fr8WAQAAIAAJ&q=%22+the+notorious+1895+Maria+Barbella+case%22|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|first=Susan L.|last=Mizruchi|author-link=Susan L. Mizruchi|year=2008|page=293|isbn=9780807832509}}
The murder trial of Adolph Luetgert, 1897
The Brown Dog affair, United Kingdom, 1900s
The Los Angeles Times bombing, 1910
The Beilis case, Russian Empire, 1913{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RlmAQAAQBAJ |title=Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis |first=Robert |last=Weinberg |publisher=Indiana University Press |date=2013 |series=Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies |isbn=978-0-253-01114-5 |access-date=2015-07-15 |via=Google Books}}
The Sacco and Vanzetti appeals, United States, 1920s
The Ponzi Scheme, 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, 1945
The Bhawal case, India, 1946[http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/1946/1946_32.pdf Srimati Bibhabati Devi v Kumar Ramenda Narayan Roy and others (Fort William (Bengal)) (1946) UKPC 32 (30 July 1946)]{{Cite encyclopedia|url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Bhawal_Case|title=Bhawal Case|last=Islam|first=Sirajul|encyclopedia=Banglapedia|publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh}}{{cite news|last=Chaudhuri|first=Supriya|title=The man who would be king|url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/lr/2002/10/06/stories/2002100600190300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419170742/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/lr/2002/10/06/stories/2002100600190300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 April 2018|access-date=23 January 2017|newspaper=The Hindu|date=6 October 2002}}{{cite book|first=Murad|last=Fyzee|title=A Prince, Poison and Two Funerals: The Bhowal Sanyasi Case|publisher=English Edition Publishers|year=2003|isbn=81-87853-32-8}}
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{{Cite book |title=The Stranger Beside Me |title-link=The Stranger Beside Me |first=Ann |last=Rule |author-link=Ann Rule |year=2000 |publisher=Norton |isbn=0393050297 |edition=Updated 20th anniversary |location=New York |oclc=44110374}}
The Jonestown Cult Suicide, Guyana, 1978
The trials of Claus von Bülow, United States, 1982–1985
The Đorđe Martinović incident, Yugoslavia, 1985{{Cite book|last=LeBor|first=Adam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Om0OViTwCtkC|title=Milosevic: A Biography|date=2003-08-04|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-7475-6181-1|language=en}}
The murder of the Goldmark family, United States, 1985
The Rodney King beating, United States, 1991{{cite web |first=Carol Bengle |last=Gilbert |date=May 1, 2012 |title=Rodney King: Before and After the Traffic Stop that Inflamed L.A. |website=Yahoo News |url=https://news.yahoo.com/rodney-king-traffic-stop-inflamed-l-162500101.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302015905/http://news.yahoo.com/rodney-king-traffic-stop-inflamed-l-162500101.html |archive-date=March 2, 2014}}
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{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=Sowell |author-link=Thomas Sowell |title=The Quest for Cosmic Justice |date=June 30, 2001 |orig-year=1999 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |oclc=898484807 |isbn=978-0-7432-1507-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5eU2KN9ChnEC&pg=PA19 |page=19 |quote=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.}}
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{{cite web|last1=Barry|first1=Colleen|date=September 30, 2013|title=New Amanda Knox trial under way in Florence|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/30/new-amanda-knox-trial-under-way-in-florence/2894425/|website=USA Today|access-date=9 July 2014}}
Sergei Magnitsky's death, Russia, 2009{{cite news |title=Dying in Agony: His Reward for Solving a $230 Million Fraud |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=November 14, 2010}}
Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation, Tunisia, 2010{{Cite news|last=Amara|first=Tarek|date=2011-01-06|title=Tunisian lawyers strike, civil unrest continues|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-tunisia-protests-idUKTRE7054CB20110106|access-date=2021-06-16}}
The Julian Assange extradition, United Kingdom, 2011{{cite web |first1=Jeff |last1=Sparrow |first2=Elizabeth |last2=O'Shea |date=December 7, 2010 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/41914.html |title=Open letter: To Julia Gillard, re Julian Assange |website=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=2015-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505063342/http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/41914.html |archive-date=May 5, 2014 |url-status=dead}}
The Pussy Riot trial, Russia, 2012{{cite web|url=http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/how_to_become_a_cause_celebre_a_guide_for_political_prisoners/14460 |title=How to become a cause célèbre: a guide for political prisoners |first=Brendan |last=O'Neill |website=spiked |publisher=Spiked Ltd |date=2013-12-24 |access-date=2015-07-15}}
The Delhi gang rape, India, 2012{{cite web |last=Harikrishnan |first=Charmy |title=India's Daughter: Why we should watch Leslee Udwin's documentary |url=http://www.dailyo.in/politics/leslee-udwin-indias-daughter-nirbhaya-december-16-2012-delhi-gang-rape/story/1/2379.html |website=Daily O |publisher=India Today Group |date=2015-03-04 |access-date=2016-11-04}}{{cite web |last=Gibb |first=Simon |title=The Delhi Gang Rape Incident|url=http://libertarianhome.co.uk/2012/12/the-delhi-gang-rape/ |website=Libertarian Home |date=2012-12-30 |access-date=2016-11-04}}
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{{Cite news|last=Barrett|first=Joe|date=2020-09-01|title=Kyle Rittenhouse, Charged With Killing Two in Kenosha, Sees Strong Fundraising Support|language=en|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/kyle-rittenhouse-charged-with-killing-two-in-kenosha-emerges-as-a-cause-celebre-to-some-11598998441|access-date=2022-07-10}}
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