Cause célèbre

A cause célèbre (/ˈkɔːz səˈlɛbrə/,[1] /ˈkɔːz səˈlɛb/,[2] French: [koz selɛbʁ]; pl. causes célèbres, pronounced like singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate.[3] 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.[4] 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,[5][1][2] it is not normally italicized despite its French origin.

For other uses, see Cause célèbre (disambiguation).

In French, cause means, here, 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.

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]

Notable examples

See also

References
  1. Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre
  2. 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
  3. Hirsch, E. D., Jr.; Kett, Joseph F.; Trefil, James, eds. (2002). "cause célèbre". The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (3rd ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008 – via Bartleby.com.
  4. "cause célèbre". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. 2000. Archived from the original on August 3, 2008 – via Bartleby.com.
  5. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre
  6. 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.
  7. Kertzer, David I (1998) [1997]. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-0-679-76817-3.
  8. Bristow, Joseph, ed. (2013-05-28). Wilde Discoveries: Traditions, Histories, Archives. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-6570-5. Retrieved 2015-07-15 – via Google Books.
  9. Susan L. Mizruchi (2008). The rise of multicultural America. University of North Carolina Press. p. 293. ISBN 9780807832509.
  10. Sanderson, Edgar; Historic Parallels to L'affaire Dreyfus (1900), p. 265: "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".
  11. Weinberg, Robert (2013). Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis. Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01114-5. Retrieved 2015-07-15 – via Google Books.
  12. Islam, Sirajul. "Bhawal Case". Banglapedia. Bangladesh Asiatic Society.
  13. Chaudhuri, Supriya (6 October 2002). "The man who would be king". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  14. Srimati Bibhabati Devi v Kumar Ramenda Narayan Roy and others (Fort William (Bengal)) (1946) UKPC 32 (30 July 1946)
  15. Murad Fyzee – A Prince, Poison and Two Funerals: The Bhowal Sanyasi Case, English Edition Publishers (2003), ISBN 81-87853-32-8
  16. Ann, Rule (2000). The Sranger Beside Me (Updated 20th anniversary ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 0393050297. OCLC 44110374.
  17. Gilbert, Carol Bengle (May 1, 2012). "Rodney King: Before and After the Traffic Stop that Inflamed L.A." Yahoo News. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014.
  18. Sowell, Thomas (June 30, 2001) [1999]. The Quest for Cosmic Justice. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-7432-1507-7. OCLC 898484807. 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.
  19. Barry, Colleen (September 30, 2013). "New Amanda Knox trial under way in Florence". USA Today. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  20. "Dying in Agony: His Reward for Solving a $230 Million Fraud". The Sunday Times. November 14, 2010.
  21. Sparrow, Jeff; O'Shea, Elizabeth (December 7, 2010). "Open letter: To Julia Gillard, re Julian Assange". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on May 5, 2014. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  22. O'Neill, Brendan (2013-12-24). "How to become a cause célèbre: a guide for political prisoners". spiked. Spiked Ltd. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  23. Harikrishnan, Charmy (2015-03-04). "India's Daughter: Why we should watch Leslee Udwin's documentary". Daily O. India Today Group. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
  24. Gibb, Simon (2012-12-30). "The Delhi Gang Rape Incident". Libertarian Home. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
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