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Revision as of 18:23, 21 August 2005
A cause célèbre (of which the plural is causes célèbres) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and/or heated public debate. It is particularly used for famous long-running legal cases. It is a french phrase in common usage in English.
In French, cause means a legal case, and célèbre means "famous". The phrase originated with the 37-volume Nouvelles Causes Célèbres, published in 1763, which was a collection of reports of well-known French court decisions from the 17th and 18th centuries. While English speakers had used the phrase for many years, it came into much more common usage after the 1894 conviction of Alfred Dreyfus for espionage, which attracted worldwide interest.
Terence Rattigan wrote a 1977 play called 'Cause Célèbre', based on the conviction of Alma Rattenbury for murder in 1935.
A list of people and cases which have been considered causes célèbres
2
A
- Paula Abdul
- Mumia Abu-Jamal
- Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (H. Rap Brown)
- Scott Amedure
- Attorney General v. X
- Sherman Austin
B
- Deirdre Barlow
- Mark Barnsley
- Menahem Mendel Beilis
- Derek Bentley
- Elizabeth Bentley
- Lori Berenson
- Steve Biko
- Birmingham Six
- Richard Boeken
- Branch Davidians
- Joseph Brodsky
- Brown Dog affair
C
- Jean Calas
- Elizabeth Cass
- Lindy Chamberlain
- Chu Mei-feng
- Ward Churchill
- Corey Clark
- Schapelle Corby
- Rachel Corrie
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
- Lady Chatterley's Lover
- Marie LaFarge
- Stephen Laird
- Amina Lawal
- Le Chi Thuc
- Wen Ho Lee
- Chandra Levy
- Jeff Luers
M
- Nelson Mandela
- Tony Martin (farmer)
- McCarthyism
- McDonald's coffee case
- Yosef Mendelevitch
- Ivan Milat
- Kevin Mitnick
- Roy Moore
- Edgardo Mortara
N
O
P
R
S
- Sacco and Vanzetti
- Henry Sacheverell
- Sallins Train Robbery
- Terri Schiavo
- Scottsboro Boys
- Natan Sharansky
- O. J. Simpson
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- SpongeBob SquarePants (character)
- Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy
T
- Damilola Taylor
- Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters
- Tichborne Case
- Trial of Socrates
- Tulia, Texas drug sting
V
W
Y
Z
See also
External links
- Project Gutenberg has several volumes on "causes célèbres":