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To: jdawg2010

Was there ever a case involving someone who yelled fire in a crowded theater?


3 posted on 09/17/2010 7:56:16 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: ilovesarah2012

The reason why one would find that act heinous is because early theatres were often set on fire, with flammable celluloid running past a bright hot light bulb, and a correct warning of fire would have to be acted on quickly. A false alarm of fire would lead to many lives risked, at least, and perhaps lost.

It was the frequency of bad fires that made it subject to the analogy, which has now outlived the hazard.


9 posted on 09/17/2010 8:00:44 PM PDT by donmeaker ("Get off my lawn." Clint Eastwood, Green Ford Torino)
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To: ilovesarah2012
Was there ever a case involving someone who yelled fire in a crowded theater?

John Wilkes Booth comes to mind.
26 posted on 09/17/2010 8:37:35 PM PDT by Question Liberal Authority (Worst. Post-Racial President. EVER.)
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To: ilovesarah2012

I once shouted “Movie Theater” during a fire. Nobody seemed to notice.


32 posted on 09/17/2010 9:18:52 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear (Does not play well with others)
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To: ilovesarah2012
Was there ever a case involving someone who yelled fire in a crowded theater?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenck_v._United_States

In the opinion's most famous passage, Justice Holmes sets out the "clear and present danger" test: "The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." This case is also the source of the phrase "shouting fire in a crowded theater", paraphrased from Holmes' assertion that "the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."

40 posted on 09/18/2010 3:13:06 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Compact Theory)
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