The Concept of (Free) Speech

Catalog description

Free speech clauses protect, this much seems evident, more than just “speech”. In a very general sense, they protect “communication”. They do so for various (and well-studied) purposes ranging from self-fulfillment to political participation. Still, this does not answer which instances of “communication” have a claim to protection under free speech clauses like the First Amendment to the US Constitution (FA) or Article 10 if the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The course will identify the criteria according to which acts are considered as protected “communication” in comparative perspective (and of course: which are not). Paying close attention to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the US Supreme Court (USC) as well as to relevant scholarship, the discussions in class will give us a deeper understanding of what we speak about, when we speak about “speech”.