Cause célèbre

Etymology

In French, one of the meanings of cause is 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 during the cementing of a period of deep cultural ties with a political tie between England and France, the Entente Cordiale. Both attracted worldwide interest and the period of closeness or rapprochement officially broadened the English language.

Examples

• The murder of Edward the Martyr, England, 978
• The Becket controversy, England, 1163–1170
• The Tour de Nesle affair, France, 1314
• King Edward IV of England's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, England, 1460s and 1470s
• The Princes in the Tower, England, 1483
• The imposture of Martin Guerre, France, 1560
• The murder of Lord Darnley, Scotland, 1567
• The execution of Mary Stuart, England, 1587
• The Gunpowder Plot, England, 1605
• The execution of Robert-François Damiens, France, 1757
• The Douglas Cause, Great Britain, 1760s
• Ireland Shakespeare forgeries, Great Britain, 1790s
• The Burr Conspiracy and ensuing show trial, United States, 1805–1807
• The Marie Lafarge case, France, 1840
• The Parkman–Webster murder case, United States, 1849–1850
• The Mortara case, Papal States, 1850s and 1860s
• The Tichborne case, United Kingdom, 1860s and 1870s
• The Vera Zasulich trial, Russia, 1878
• The R v Dudley and Stephens cannibalism case, United Kingdom, 1884
• The Haymarket affair, United States, 1886
• The Dreyfus affair, France, 1890s and 1900s
• The murder trial of Lizzie Borden, United States, 1893
• The libel trial of Oscar Wilde, United Kingdom, 1895
• The murder trial of Maria Barbella, United States, 1895
• The murder trial of Adolph Luetgert, 1897
• The Brown Dog affair, United Kingdom, 1900s
• The Los Angeles Times bombing, 1910
• The Beilis case, Russian Empire, 1913
• The Preparedness Day bombing, United States, 1916
• The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, British India, 1919
• The Sacco and Vanzetti appeals, United States, 1920s
• The Ponzi Scheme, United States, 1923
• The assassination of Giacomo Matteotti, Italy, 1924
• The Scopes Monkey Trial, United States, 1925
• The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, United States, 1929
• The Scottsboro Boys case, United States, 1931
• The Lindbergh kidnapping, United States, 1932
• The Mrs Freer case, Australia, 1936
• The Port Chicago disaster, United States, 1944
• The bombing of Dresden, Germany, 1945
• The Bhawal case, India, 1946
• The Derek Bentley case, United Kingdom, 1953
• The Petrov Affair, Australia, 1954
• The shooting of William Woodward Jr. by his wife Ann Woodward, United States, 1955
• The killing of Johnny Stompanato, United States, 1958
• The assassination of John F. Kennedy, United States, 1963
• The Tate-LaBianca murders, United States, 1969
• The Soledad Brothers case, United States, 1970
• The Thorpe affair, United Kingdom, 1970s
• The Watergate scandal, United States, 1972–1974
• The disappearance of Lord Lucan, United Kingdom, 1974
• Ted Bundy's impending trial in Aspen, 1977
• The Jonestown Cult Suicide, Guyana, 1978
• The trials of Claus von Bülow, United States, 1982–1985
• The Đorđe Martinović incident, Yugoslavia, 1985
• The murder of the Goldmark family, United States, 1985
• The Rodney King beating, United States, 1991
• The murder of Shanda Sharer, United States, 1992
• The Peter Ellis trial, New Zealand, 1993
• The murder of Stephen Lawrence, London, 1993–2015
• O. J. Simpson murder case, United States, 1994–1995
• The Terri Schiavo case, United States, 1998–2005
• David Camm, United States, 2000
• The Bain family murders, New Zealand, 2004
• The Amanda Knox trials, Italy, 2009–2015
• Sergei Magnitsky's death, Russia, 2009
• Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation, Tunisia, 2010
• The Julian Assange extradition, United Kingdom, 2011
• The Pussy Riot trial, Russia, 2012
• The Delhi gang rape, India, 2012
• The Causeway Bay Books disappearances, China, 2015
• The assassination of Marielle Franco, Brazil, 2018
• The assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey, 2018
• The Sea of Japan radar targeting incident, Japan and South Korea, 2018
• The Kidnapping of Alexandra Măceșanu and Luiza Melencu, Romania, 2019
• The murder of George Floyd, United States, 2020
• The murder of Sarah Everard, United Kingdom, 2021
• The arrest of Jacob Zuma, South Africa, 2021
• The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse after the Kenosha unrest shooting, United States, 2021
• Depp v. Heard, United States, 2022
• The murder of Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe, Brazil, 2022
• The death of Mahsa Amini, Iran, 2022
• The murder of Brianna Ghey, United Kingdom, 2023
• The killing of Brian Thompson, United States, 2024
• The killing of Austin Metcalf, United States, 2025
• The assassination of Charlie Kirk, United States, 2025

Fictional examples

• The death of General Lamarque in Les Misérables (1832)
• The prison riot in Natural Born Killers (1994)

References

References

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2. (2002). "Telecommunications Essay | Bartleby". Houghton Mifflin Company.
3. (2000). "Homework Help and Textbook Solutions | bartleby". Houghton Mifflin Company.
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5. ''Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary''. S.v. "cause célèbre." Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre
6. [[John Humffreys Parry]], "''Whistler v. Ruskin'': An Attorney's Story of a Famous Trial", in ''The Living Age'' (January–March 1921), Vol. 308, p. 346.
7. Kertzer, David I. (1998). "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara". Vintage Books.
8. Miller, Elizabeth Carolyn. (2013). "Wilde Discoveries: Traditions, Histories, Archives". University of Toronto Press.
9. Sanderson, Edgar. (1900). "Historic Parallels to L'affaire Dreyfus".
10. Mizruchi, Susan L.. (2008). "The rise of multicultural America". [[University of North Carolina Press]].
11. Weinberg, Robert. (2013). "Blood Libel in Late Imperial Russia: The Ritual Murder Trial of Mendel Beilis". Indiana University Press.
12. [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/1946/1946_32.pdf Srimati Bibhabati Devi v Kumar Ramenda Narayan Roy and others (Fort William (Bengal)) (1946) UKPC 32 (30 July 1946)]
13. Islam, Sirajul. "Bhawal Case". [[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]].
14. Chaudhuri, Supriya. (6 October 2002). "The man who would be king". [[The Hindu]].
15. Fyzee, Murad. (2003). "A Prince, Poison and Two Funerals: The Bhowal Sanyasi Case". English Edition Publishers.
16. Rule, Ann. (2000). "The Stranger Beside Me". Norton.
17. LeBor, Adam. (2003-08-04). "Milosevic: A Biography". A&C Black.
18. Gilbert, Carol Bengle. (May 1, 2012). "Rodney King: Before and After the Traffic Stop that Inflamed L.A.".
19. Sowell, Thomas. (June 30, 2001). "The Quest for Cosmic Justice". Simon & Schuster.
20. (September 30, 2013). "New Amanda Knox trial under way in Florence".
21. (November 14, 2010). "Dying in Agony: His Reward for Solving a $230 Million Fraud". [[The Sunday Times]].
22. Amara, Tarek. (2011-01-06). "Tunisian lawyers strike, civil unrest continues". Reuters.
23. (December 7, 2010). "Open letter: To Julia Gillard, re Julian Assange". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
24. O'Neill, Brendan. (2013-12-24). "How to become a cause célèbre: a guide for political prisoners". Spiked Ltd.
25. Harikrishnan, Charmy. (2015-03-04). "India's Daughter: Why we should watch Leslee Udwin's documentary". India Today Group.
26. Gibb, Simon. (2012-12-30). "The Delhi Gang Rape Incident".
27. Barrett, Joe. (2020-09-01). "Kyle Rittenhouse, Charged With Killing Two in Kenosha, Sees Strong Fundraising Support". The Wall Street Journal.