Notable Private Prosecutions
- Oscar Wilde initiated an unsuccessful private prosecution for libel against the Marquis of Queensberry when the latter publicly accused Wilde of sodomy, which was then a crime.
- Whitehouse v. Lemon (1977) was the last successful blasphemy prosecution in the United Kingdom.
- The family of Stephen Lawrence brought charges against the five men they alleged had killed him (1996). The private prosecution was unsuccessful, one suspect's acquittal in the criminal trial was quashed in 2011, with a subsequent trial resulting in his and another suspect's conviction in 2012.
Read more about this topic: Private Prosecution
Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or private:
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern.... No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)