LAD #2 John Peter Zenger

• Who was John Peter Zenger?

John Peter Zenger was the publisher of the unauthorized "New-York Weekly JOURNAL", which published propaganda against the corrupt and despicable New York governor William Cosby. Zenger was jailed by the Governor on charges of publishing seditious libel. At his trial, the prestigious lawyer Alexander Hamilton defended Zenger, and Zenger was famously acquitted despite a corrupt judge.

• What was the controversy over his charges? Talk about Hamilton's defense.

There was some controversy over the charges placed on Zenger. He was accused of publishing seditious libel, or malicious untruths inspiring rebellion, against Governor Cosby. It is important to note that, while the facts Zenger published were indeed malicious and intending to vilify the Governor, they were also true. Regardless, in Zenger's trial, the prosecuting Attorney General Bradley argued that, whether the published facts were true or not, the act of printing them at all was enough to prosecute Zenger. Such an argument was actually supported by the British (and thus colonial) law at the time. However, Hamilton argued that the libel law of Britain should not be applicable in the colonies. When the corrupt Chief Justice Delancey stated that no laws supported Hamilton's argument and that the jury should leave the case to the corrupt judges to decide, Hamilton eloquently explained the key point of his defense, which was that the jury was able to decide the ruling of the case for itself without the decision of the judges. This is known as jury nullification. So regardless of the existing law that would have condemned Zenger, the jury could decide whether Zenger was guilty or not.

• What influence did his case have on American governmental tradition?

The Zenger case proved that the truth is an absolute defense against libel. Thus, the precedent that a statement is not libel if it can be proved to be true was set. This established the American policy of Freedom of the Press. Also, it set a precedent of a jury's right to nullify the judges decision.

• What is the lasting significance of his trial? Explain.

The trial had lasting significance. Even though no new laws relating to seditious libel were  created directly after the trial, the outcome of the case greatly impacted the colonies. For example, the case demonstrated the intense public resentment towards libel prosecutions. Similar prosecutions were discouraged by the new precedent of jury nullification. Lastly, freedom of the press started growing, and would be codified about a half-century later in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights. In the words of Gouvernor Morris, a drafter of the Constitution and the great-grandson of Lewis Morris, a man who worked with Zenger in the creation of the New-York Weekly JOURNAL, "The trial of Zenger in 1735 was the germ of American Freedom...which subsequently revolutionized America."