Does this passage help us understand the ruling in the Zenger
trial?
They invoked the common law of
seditious libel against scurrilous attacks on their personal character on the
understandable grounds that such “speaking evil of dignities and reviling the
rulers of the people” undermined their capacity to govern.
That is, does it help explain why the judge said that Zenger’s
accusations against the governor still constituted seditious libel even if they
were true—you just can’t attack a public official. (At least that’s my understanding of the
trial.)
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