Near v MinnesotaWord格式文档下载.docx

1、June 1, 1931 Syllabus1. A Minnesota statute declares that one who engages in the business of regularly and customarily producing, publishing, etc., a malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspaper, magazine or other periodical, is guilty of a nuisance, and authorizes suits, in the name of the State,

2、 in which such periodicals may be abated and their publishers enjoined from future violations. In such a suit, malice may be inferred from the fact of publication. The defendant is permitted to prove, as a defense, that his publications were true and published with good motives and for justifiable e

3、nds. Disobedience of an injunction is punishable as a contempt. Held unconstitutional, as applied to publications charging neglect of duty and corruption upon the part of law-enforcing officers of the State. Pp. 704, 709, 712, 722. 2. Liberty of the press is within the liberty safeguarded by the due

4、 process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from invasion by state action. P. 707. 3. Liberty of the press is not an absolute right, and the State may punish its abuse. P. 708. 4. In passing upon the constitutionality of the statute, the court has regard for substance, and not for form; the statute

5、must be tested by its operation and effect. P. 708. 698 5. Cutting through mere details of procedure, the operation and effect of the statute is that public authorities may bring a publisher before a judge upon a charge of conducting a business of publishing scandalous and defamatory matter - in par

6、ticular, that the matter consists of charges against public officials of official dereliction - and, unless the publisher is able and disposed to satisfy the judge that the charges are true and are published with good motives and for justifiable ends, his newspaper or periodical is suppressed and fu

7、rther publication is made punishable as a contempt. This is the essence of censorship. P. 713. 6. A statute authorizing such proceedings in restraint of publication is inconsistent with the conception of the liberty of the press as historically conceived and guaranteed. P. 713. 7. The chief purpose

8、of the guaranty is to prevent previous restraints upon publication. The libeler, however, remains criminally and civilly responsible for his libels. P. 713. 8. There are undoubtedly limitations upon the immunity from previous restraint of the press, but they are not applicable in this case. P. 715.

9、9. The liberty of the press has been especially cherished in this country as respects publications censuring public officials and charging official misconduct. P. 716. 10. Public officers find their remedies for false accusations in actions for redress and punishment under the libel laws, and not in

10、 proceedings to restrain the publication of newspapers and periodicals. P. 718. 11. The fact that the liberty of the press may be abused by miscreant purveyors of scandal does not make any the less necessary the immunity from previous restraint in dealing with official misconduct. P. 720. 12. Charac

11、terizing the publication of charges of official misconduct as a business, and the business as a nuisance, does not avoid the constitutional guaranty; nor does it matter that the periodical is largely or chiefly devoted to such charges. P. 720. 13. The guaranty against previous restraint extends to p

12、ublications charging official derelictions that amount to crimes. P. 720. 14. Permitting the publisher to show in defense that the matter published is true and is published with good motives and for justifiable ends does not justify the statute. P. 721. 15. Nor can it be sustained as a measure for p

13、reserving the public peace and preventing assaults and crime. Pp. 721, 722. 179 Minn. 40; 228 N.W. 326, reversed. 699 MR. CHIEF JUSTICE HUGHES delivered the opinion of the Court. Chapter 285 of the Session Laws of Minnesota for the year 1925 note 1 provides for the abatement, as a public nuisance, o

14、f a malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspaper, 702 magazine or other periodical. Section one of the Act is as follows: Section 1. Any person who, as an individual, or as a member or employee of a firm, or association or organization, or as an officer, director, member or employee of a corporati

15、on, shall be engaged in the business of regularly or customarily producing, publishing or circulating, having in possession, selling or giving away （a） an obscene, lewd and lascivious newspaper, magazine, or other periodical, or （b） a malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspaper, magazine or other

16、 periodical, is guilty of a nuisance, and all persons guilty of such nuisance may be enjoined, as hereinafter provided.Participation in such business shall constitute a commission of such nuisance and render the participant liable and subject to the proceedings, orders and judgments provided for in

17、this Act. Ownership, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, of any such periodical, or of any stock or interest in any corporation or organization which owns the same in whole or in part, or which publishes the same, shall constitute such participation. In actions brought under （b） above, ther

18、e shall be available the defense that the truth was published with good motives and for justifiable ends and in such actions the plaintiff shall not have the right to report （sic） to issues or editions of periodicals taking place more than three months before the commencement of the action. Section

19、two provides that, whenever any such nuisance is committed or exists, the County Attorney of any county where any such periodical is published or circulated, or, in case of his failure or refusal to proceed upon written request in good faith of a reputable citizen, the Attorney General, or, upon lik

20、e failure or refusal of the latter, any citizen of the county may maintain an action in the district court of the county in the name of the State to enjoin 703 perpetually the persons committing or maintaining any such nuisance from further committing or maintaining it. Upon such evidence as the cou

21、rt shall deem sufficient, a temporary injunction may be granted. The defendants have the right to plead by demurrer or answer, and the plaintiff may demur or reply as in other cases. The action, by section three, is to be governed by the practice and procedure applicable to civil actions for injunct

22、ions, and, after trial, the court may enter judgment permanently enjoining the defendants found guilty of violating the Act from continuing the violation, and, in and by such judgment, such nuisance may be wholly abated. The court is empowered, as in other cases of contempt, to punish disobedience t

23、o a temporary or permanent injunction by fine of not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than twelve months. Under this statute, clause （b）, the County Attorney of Hennepin County brought this action to enjoin the publication of what was described as a malicious, scan

24、dalous and defamatory newspaper, magazine and periodical known as The Saturday Press, published by the defendants in the city of Minneapolis. The complaint alleged that the defendants, on September 24, 1927, and on eight subsequent dates in October and November, 1927, published and circulated editio

25、ns of that periodical which were largely devoted to malicious, scandalous and defamatory articles concerning Charles G. Davis, Frank W. Brunskill, the Minneapolis Tribune, the Minneapolis Journal, Melvin C. Passolt, George E. Leach, the Jewish Race, the members of the Grand Jury of Hennepin County i

26、mpaneled in November, 1927, and then holding office, and other persons, as more fully appeared in exhibits annexed to the complaint, consisting of copies of the articles described and constituting 327 pages of the record. While the complaint did not so allege, it 704 appears from the briefs of both

27、parties that Charles G. Davis was a special law enforcement officer employed by a civic organization, that George E. Leach was Mayor of Minneapolis, that Frank W. Brunskill was its Chief of Police, and that Floyd B. Olson （the relator in this action） was County Attorney. Without attempting to summar

28、ize the contents of the voluminous exhibits attached to the complaint, we deem it sufficient to say that the articles charged in substance that a Jewish gangster was in control of gambling, bootlegging and racketeering in Minneapolis, and that law enforcing officers and agencies were not energetical

29、ly performing their duties. Most of the charges were directed against the Chief of Police; he was charged with gross neglect of duty, illicit relations with gangsters, and with participation in graft. The County Attorney was charged with knowing the existing conditions and with failure to take adequ

30、ate measures to remedy them. The Mayor was accused of inefficiency and dereliction. One member of the grand jury was stated to be in sympathy with the gangsters. A special grand jury and a special prosecutor were demanded to deal with the situation in general, and, in particular, to investigate an a

31、ttempt to assassinate one Guilford, one of the original defendants, who, it appears from the articles, was shot by gangsters after the first issue of the periodical had been published. There is no question but that the articles made serious accusations against the public officers named and others in

32、 connection with the prevalence of crimes and the failure to expose and punish them. At the beginning of the action, on November 22, 1927, and upon the verified complaint, an order was made directing the defendants to show cause why a temporary injunction should not issue and meanwhile forbidding the defendants to publish, circulate or have in their possession any editions of the periodical from September 705 24, 1927, to November 19, 1927, inclusive, and from publishing, circulati