Acause célèbre (/ˌkɔːzsəˈlɛb(rə)/ⓘKAWZ sə-LEB(-rə),[1]French:[kozselɛbʁ]; pl.causes célèbres, pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespreadcontroversy, outsidecampaigning, and heatedpublic debate.[2] The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for theirprecedent value (eachlocus classicus or "case-in-point") and more often negatively for infamous ones, whether for scale, outrage,scandal, orconspiracy theories.[3] The term is aFrench phrase in common usage in English. Since it has been fully adopted into English and is included unitalicized in English dictionaries,[4][1][5] it is not normally italicized despite its French origin.
It has been noted that the public attention given to a particular case or event can obscure the facts rather than clarify them. AsJohn Humffreys Parry states, "The true story of many a cause célèbre is never made manifest in the evidence given or in the advocates' orations, but might be recovered from these old papers when the dust of ages has rendered them immune from scandal".[6]
In French, one of the meanings ofcause is alegal case, andcélèbre means "famous". The phrase originated with the 37-volumeNouvelles 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 the1894 conviction ofAlfred Dreyfus forespionage during the cementing of a period of deep cultural ties with a political tie between England and France, theEntente Cordiale. Both attracted worldwide interest and the period of closeness orrapprochement officially broadened the English language.
^Hirsch, E. D. Jr.; Kett, Joseph F.; Trefil, James, eds. (2002). "cause célèbre".Telecommunications Essay | Bartleby.The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (3rd ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. Archived fromthe original on 21 September 2008 – via Bartleby.com.
^Sanderson, Edgar (1900).Historic Parallels to L'affaire Dreyfus. p. 265.The unique cause célèbre of the nineteenth century, L'Affaire Dreyfus, is conspicuous for every kind of wickedness that can be brought to bear against an innocent man.
^Sowell, Thomas (30 June 2001) [1999].The Quest for Cosmic Justice. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 19.ISBN978-0-7432-1507-7.OCLC898484807.A more recent cause célèbre of the American criminal justice system was the murder trial of former football star O.J. Simpson, which provoked widespread consternation, not only because of its "not guilty" verdict in the face of massive evidence to the contrary, but also because of the sheer length of time that the trial took.
The dictionary definition ofcause célèbre at Wiktionary
Category:Causes célèbres atWikinews