The Oxford Handbook of Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech is central to the liberal democratic tradition. It touches on every aspect of our social and political system and receives explicit and implicit protection in every modern democratic constitution. It is frequently referred to in public discourse and has inspired a wealth of legal and philosophical literature. The liberty to speak freely is often questioned; what is the relationship between this freedom and other rights and values, how far does this freedom extend, and how is it applied to contemporary challenges?

The Oxford Handbook on Freedom of Speech seeks to answer these and other pressing questions. It provides a critical analysis of the foundations, rationales, and ideas that underpin freedom of speech as a political idea, and as a principle of positive constitutional law. In doing so, it examines freedom of speech in a variety of national and supra-national settings from an international perspective.

Compiled by a team of renowned experts in the field, this handbook features original essays by leading scholars and theorists exploring the history, legal framework and controversies surrounding this tennet of the democratic constitution.

This is, therefore, without doubt a seminal piece of work, that not only makes a valuable contribution to the free speech debate now but will, no doubt, continue to act as a catalyst and resource for further research and debate long into the future. Stone and Schauer, and their contributors, have managed to adroitly balance authoritative analysis with accessibility. Consequently, this book will not only be of huge value to academic and practising lawyers operating within the media law and human rights spheres, but will also be of interest to law students, philosophers and communication and journalism scholars around the world. Personally, this exceptional collection has already become indispensable for my research and teaching and is a book that I will not hesitate to recommend to my University's library.

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