Cause célèbre

A cause célèbre (/ˌkɔːz səˈlɛb(rə)/ ^ⓘ KAWZ sə-LEB(-rə),^[1] French: [koz selɛbʁ]; pl. causes célèbres, pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate.^[2] The term continues in the media in all senses. It 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.^[3] 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,^[4]^[1]^[5] 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 one observer 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".^[6]

Etymology edit

In French, one of the meanings of cause is a legal case, and célèbre means "famous". The phrase originated with the 37-volume 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 edit

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^[7]
Tichborne case, United Kingdom, 1860s and 1870s
Vera Zasulich trial, Russia, 1878^[8]^{[page needed]}
R v Dudley and Stephens cannibalism case, United Kingdom, 1884
The Dreyfus affair, France, 1890s and 1900s^[9]
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^[10]
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^[11]
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 Lindbergh kidnapping, United States, 1932
The Port Chicago disaster, United States, 1944
Bhawal case, India, 1946^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]
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 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^[16]
The Jonestown Cult Suicide, Guyana, 1978
The trials of Claus von Bülow, United States, 1982–1985
The Đorđe Martinović incident, Yugoslavia, 1985^[17]
The Murder of the Goldmark family, United States, 1985
Rodney King beating, United States, 1991^[18]
The Murder of Shanda Sharer, United States, 1992
Peter Ellis trial, New Zealand, 1993
Murder of Stephen Lawrence, London, 1993–2015
O. J. Simpson murder case, United States, 1994–1995^[19]
Terri Schiavo case, United States, 1998-2005
David Camm, United States, 2000
The Bain family murders, New Zealand, 2004
Amanda Knox trials, Italy, 2009–2015^[20]
Sergei Magnitsky's death, Russia, 2009^[21]
Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation, Tunisia, 2010^[22]
Julian Assange extradition, United Kingdom, 2011^[23]
Pussy Riot trial, Russia, 2012^[24]
Delhi gang rape, India, 2012^[25]^[26]
Causeway Bay Books disappearances, China, 2015
Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey, 2018
Sea of Japan radar targeting incident, Japan and South Korea, 2018
Murder of George Floyd, United States, 2020
Murder of Sarah Everard, United Kingdom, 2021
Trial of Kyle Rittenhouse after the Kenosha unrest shooting, United States, 2021^[27]
Murder of Brianna Ghey, United Kingdom, 2023
Depp v. Heard, United States, 2022
Murder of Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe, Brazil, 2022
Death of Mahsa Amini, Iran, 2022

Fictional examples edit

Death of General Lamarque in Les Miserables (1832)
The prison riot in Natural Born Killers

References edit

External links edit

The dictionary definition of cause célèbre at Wiktionary
Category:Causes célèbres at Wikinews

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