The
Daily Mail relates a story from Across the Pond about some judges who understand free speech. Good for them.
Judges have insisted that freedom of speech includes the right to offend in a landmark ruling which could help to turn the tide on woke intolerance after a feminist who called a transgender woman a pig in a wig and a man was cleared.
Presiding over a case in the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Warby said: Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.
They added that free speech encompasses the right to offend, and indeed to abuse another . The judgment from two senior members of the judiciary will set a precedent for future cases involving freedom of speech.
“This is a complex area of law”
It’s been reported that Justice Warby and Lord Justice Bean have ruled that the right to offend is under freedom of speech in the Scottow and Hayden Court of Appeal case.
The case in question followed cis-gendered woman Katherine Scottow and transgender woman Stefanie Hayden.
Scottow was arrested in 2019 for sending hate speech to Hayden, by misgendering her, calling her a racist and a pig in the wing online.
A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service stated: “The Court of Appeals judgement concluded there was not enough evidence to convict the defendant for persistently making use of public communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety, determining that the timing and level of communication exchanged online did not constitute a criminal offence.”
Fri, 18 Dec 2020 08:45 UTC
Presiding over a case in the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Warby said: Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having. Pictured, supporters of Kate Scottow protesting outside court earlier this yearJudges have insisted that
freedom of speech includes the right to offend in a landmark ruling which could help to turn the tide on woke intolerance after a feminist who called a transgender woman a pig in a wig and a man was cleared.
Presiding over a case in the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Warby said:
Two judges have ruled that free speech encompasses offensive language
Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Warby presiding over case in Court of Appeal
Ruling came in successful appeal decided last week in favour of Kate Scottow
Feminist prosecuted for calling a transgender woman a man and pig in a wig
She had been found guilty under the 2003 Communications Act this year