Trial of the century is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 19th, 20th and 21st century. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such is not an objective observation but the opinion of whoever uses it. As attorney F. Lee Bailey and The Washington Post observed in 1999:
Calling court cases "the trial of the century" is a traditional bit of American hyperbole, like calling a circus "The Greatest Show on Earth". Nearly every juicy tabloid trial in our history was called the "trial of the century" by somebody. "Every time I turn around, there's a new trial of the century," said defense attorney F. Lee Bailey. "It's a kind of hype," he says. "It's a way of saying, 'This is really fabulous. It's really sensational.' But it doesn't really mean anything."[1]
In 1907, Harry K. Thaw was tried for the murder of Stanford White.[1] Irvin S. Cobb, a contemporary reporter, explained why the trial fascinated the country so much:
You see, it had in it wealth, degeneracy, rich old wasters, delectable young chorus girls and adolescent artists' models; the behind-the-scenes of Theatredom and the Underworld, and the Great White Way ... the abnormal pastimes and weird orgies of overly aesthetic artists and jaded debauchees. In the cast of the motley show were Bowery toughs, Harlem gangsters, Tenderloin panderers, Broadway leading men, Fifth Avenue clubmen, Wall Street manipulators, uptown voluptuaries and downtown thugs.[1]
List of cases
There are countless trials that have been labeled "the trial of the century" by the press; it is beyond the scope of this article to list them here. However, some legal scholars have labeled a few trials as "trials of the century". These cases are useful in this context for listing some of the most important trials, which include:
19th century
- Trial of Lizzie Borden for the double murder of her father and stepmother (1893)[2][3]
- Trial of Alfred Dreyfus for treason (Dreyfus Affair) (1894–1899)[4]
20th century
- Trial of Leon Czolgosz for the assassination of United States President William McKinley (1901)[5]
- Trial of Harry Thaw for the murder of Stanford White (1906)[5]
- Trial of Bill Haywood for murder (1907)[5]
- Sacco and Vanzetti murder trial (1920–1927)[6]
- Trial of Roscoe Arbuckle for the rape and murder of Virginia Rappe (1921)[7]
- Leopold and Loeb murder trial (1924)[8]
- Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)[9]
- Hall–Mills murder case (1926)[10]
- Scottsboro Boys trials (1931–1937)[11]
- Lindbergh kidnapping trial (1935)[12][13]
- Nuremberg trials (1945–1946)[14][15]
- Victor Kravchenko versus Les Lettres Françaises (1949)[16]
- Hiss–Chambers (Hiss Case, Hiss Affair) (1948–1950)[17][18]
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg espionage trial (1951)[19]
- Sam Sheppard trials (1954–1966)[20]
- Adolf Eichmann trial (1961)[15]
- Chicago Seven trial (1969)[21]
- Charles Manson and Manson "family" for the Tate–LaBianca murders (1970)[22]
- Trial of Jeremy Thorpe for conspiring to murder Norman Josiffe (Thorpe affair) (1979)[23]
- Ted Bundy Chi Omega Trial (1979)[24]
- Claus von Bülow trials (1982–1985)[25]
- Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu (1989)[15]
- Trial of Lyle and Erik Menéndez (1990)[18]
- Trial of Imelda Romualdez Marcos (1990)[26][27]
- Trial of Jeffrey Dahmer (1992)[28]
- Rodney King beating trials (1992–1993)[29]
- Trial of Mayor Antonio Sanchez for the rape and murder of Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez (1993–1995)[30]
- Trial of Hubert Webb for the Vizconde massacre case (1995–2000)[31]
- O. J. Simpson murder case trial (1995)[9]
- Trial of Yolanda Saldívar (1995)[9]
- Trial of Timothy McVeigh (1995 - 1997)[32]
- Impeachment of Bill Clinton (1999)[33]
- Bush v. Gore case that ended the recount in Florida (2000)[34][35]
21st century
- Trial of Joseph Estrada (2001–2007)[36]
- Trial of Slobodan Milošević (2002–2005)[15]
- Trial of Saddam Hussein (2004–2006)[37]
- Trial of Michael Jackson (2005)[38]
- Trial of the Ampatuan family for the Maguindanao massacre case (2010–2019)[39]
- Trial of Casey Anthony for the death of Caylee Anthony (2011)[40]
- Trial of Bo Xilai (2013)[41]
- Trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera ("El Chapo") (2018–2019)[42]
- Trial of Catalonia independence leaders (2019)[43][44]
- Impeachment trials of Donald Trump (2020, 2021)[45][46]
- Trial of Ferdy Sambo for the murder of Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat (2022–2023)[47]
- Trial of Alex Murdaugh (2023)[48][49]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 "(The Last) Trial of the Century!" by Peter Carlson via The Washington Post, January 4, 1999; Page C01
- ↑ "Why 19th-Century Axe Murderer Lizzie Borden Was Found Not Guilty".
- ↑ "Research Guides: Arrest and Trial of Lizzie Borden: Topics in Chronicling America: Introduction".
- ↑ "Trial of the Century". The New Yorker. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 15 Feb 2020.
- 1 2 3 F. Uelmen, Gerald (July 2001). "Who Is the Lawyer of the Century?" (PDF). International Society of Barristers Quarterly. Ann Arbor, Michigan: International Society of Barristers. 36 (3): 413, 435–437. ISSN 0020-8752. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ↑ Davis, John (2004). Sacco and Vanzetti: Rebel Lives. p. 1. ISBN 1-876175-85-0.
Within a year it was going to become the 'trial of the century.'
- ↑ Noe, Denise. "Fatty Arbuckle and the Death of Virginia Rappe". crimelibrary.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ↑ DOUGLAS O. LINDER. "THE LEOPOLD AND LOEB TRIAL: A BRIEF ACCOUNT" Archived 2007-03-15 at the Wayback Machine, Law Faculty, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1997. "..the Leopold and Loeb trial has the elements to justify its billing as the first "trial of the century."
- 1 2 3 Doug Linder (1999-01-28). "Trial of the Century?". Law.umkc.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-03-08. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
- ↑ Harold Schechter, "The Hall-Mills Murder Trial, 1926" Yale Review, Yale University
- ↑ "Scottsboro: An American Tragedy Transcript". PBS. Archived from the original on January 28, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
- ↑ Doug Linder. "An Account of the Trial of Richard Hauptmann". Law.umkc.edu. Archived from the original on 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
- ↑ Ph.D, Frankie Y. Bailey; Ph.D, Steven Chermak (2007-10-30). Crimes and Trials of the Century [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 167. ISBN 9781573569736.
- ↑ Kanon, Joseph (June 9, 2002). "The Real Trial of the Century". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- 1 2 3 4 Michael P. Scharf; Gregory S. McNeal (2006). "Saddam on Trial: Understanding and Debating the Iraqi High Tribunal 229". Case Western Reserve University. Archived from the original on October 26, 2005. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
- ↑ Spiegel, Irving (1966-02-26). "Kravchenko Kills Himself Here; He Chose Freedom From Soviet; Kravchenko Kills Himself Here; He Chose Freedom From Soviet". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
- ↑ Dershowitz, Alan M. (2004). America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9780759511033. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- 1 2 Geis, Gilbert; Bienen, Leigh B. (2016). Crimes Of The Century: From Leopold and Loeb to Menendez Brothers. Northeastern University Press. p. 128. ISBN 9781555538682. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ↑ Radosh, Ronald; Klehr, Harvey; Haynes, John Earl; Hornblum, Allen M.; Usdin, Steven (October 17, 2014). "The New York Times Gets Greenglass Wrong". Weekly Standard. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
- ↑ "Sheppard Tragedy Goes On and On". Beatrice Daily Sun. February 18, 1963. p. 2. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
- ↑ "Protesting and the Chicago Seven". 1970 Year in Review. UPI. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ↑ Spence, John C. (August 1975). "Review of HELTER SKELTER: THE TRUE STORY OF THE MANSON MURDERS, by V. Bugliosi & C. Gentry". American Bar Association Journal. 61 (8): 928–929. JSTOR 25727282.
The case of Charles Manson and his 'family' may be the 'trial of the century'.
- ↑ Doward, Jamie (June 2, 2018). "Jeremy Thorpe scandal: attempted murder case to reopen". The Guardian.
- ↑ Hagood, Dick (February 10, 1980). "Bundy Jury: Death" Florida Times Union archive Archived June 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved August 30, 2011.
- ↑ Nemy, Enid (30 May 2019). "Claus von Bülow Dies at 92; Society Figure in High-Profile Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ↑ Bareng, Eriza Ong (2018). Steeling the Butterfly: The Imperial Constructions of Imelda Marcos 1966-1990 (PDF) (Doctor thesis). University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
- ↑ Live Awake PH (2021-11-10), Gerry Spence, Imelda Marcos' Defense Lawyer in the Trial of the Century, retrieved 2023-11-16
- ↑ Archives, L. A. Times (1992-01-14). "Dahmer Pleads Guilty but Insane in Serial Slayings". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
- ↑ "After the riots; A Juror Describes the Ordeal of Deliberations". The New York Times. May 6, 1992. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
- ↑ "'A plot hatched in hell': Timeline of the Gomez-Sarmenta murder case". ABS CBN News. August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
- ↑ "The Vizconde Case - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos". Archived from the original on 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
- ↑ "WashingtonPost.com: Oklahoma City Bombing Trial Report". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
- ↑ Carlson, Peter (4 January 1999). "Washingtonpost.com Special Report: Clinton Accused". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ↑ Daugherty, Greg (15 May 2019). "Teddy Roosevelt Got Sued for Libel. He Said He 'Enjoyed' the Trial". HISTORY. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
- ↑ Dole, Bob (2000-11-27). "Opinion | It Is Time for Gore to Concede". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
- ↑ New York Times, Philippines Ex-President Convicted
- ↑ "People's Daily Online – Saddam Hussein to face "trial of the century"". English.people.com.cn. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
- ↑ Jackson was accused of child molestation. He was found not guilty on all 14 counts.
- ↑ "Ampatuan brothers convicted in 10-year massacre case". Rappler. December 19, 2019.
- ↑ Cloud, John (16 June 2011). "How the Casey Anthony Murder Case Became the Social-Media Trial of the Century". Time. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
- ↑ Hilary Whiteman (August 23, 2013). "Bo Xilai trial analysis: How and why Chinese politician veered off script". CNN. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
- ↑ Correa-Cabrera, Guadalupe; Weiss, Laura (March 4, 2019). "El Chapo and Mexico's Drug War Spectacle". NACLA Report on the Americas. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
Some commentators and several media outlets have called this spectacle the "trial of the century" since it revealed..
- ↑ "AP Explains: Catalans appear at 'trial of century' in Spain". Associated Press. 13 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ↑ "Protests and tight security as Catalan separatists face hefty jail terms in Spain's 'trial of the century'". The Independent. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ↑ Zanona, Melanie (23 January 2020). "Dems unload their Ukraine arsenal — with an eye on primetime". POLITICO. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ The Editorial Board (2021-01-25). "Opinion | Trying Mr. Trump, Private Citizen". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ Llewellyn, Aisyah (14 February 2023). "Indonesia's "Trial of the Century" ends in death sentence". Al Jazeera.
- ↑ "Former U.S. Attorney Pete Strom gives insight into Murdaugh double murder trial". WLTX. Columbia, South Carolina. January 27, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
"The trial of the century in South Carolina": That's what former U.S. Attorney Pete Strom called the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh
- ↑ Robinson, Eric P. (February 2023). "Managing and Covering the Murdaugh Case and Other "Trials of the Century"". South Carolina Press Association. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
External links
- MSNBC survey on the topic from 2000
- "(The Last) Trial of the Century!" by Peter Carlson via The Washington Post, January 4, 1999; Page C01
- 20 "Trials of the Century" in the 20th century
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