THE INTERSECTIONS OF THE WORD "FUCK" AND THE LAW . . . It's the ubiquitous f-word that's the subject of a new law review article by Christopher M. Fairman of the Moritz College of Law. But don't look for a fancy title. Fairman's article is just titled "Fuck." (Link from Boing Boing.)

If you're wondering what you're in for if you decide to download and read the whole thing, here's the article's Table of Contents----

I. Introduction

II. Fuck History

A. Etymology

B. Modern Usage

III. Fuck as Taboo

A. Understanding Taboo Language

B. Psycholinguistics and Fuck

C. Effects of Taboo

IV. Fuck Jurisprudence

A. The First Amendment: From Fighting Words to "Fuck the Draft"

B. Fuck and the FCC

1. Pacifica and a pig in the parlor

2. Powell, profanity, and the new speech vigilantes

C. Genderspeak and Workplace Fuck

D. Tinker's Armband but not Cohen's Coat?

1. Fuck in public schools

2. Fuck in higher education

V. Conclusion

It's an interesting article, so much so that the stunt of giving the headings short titles with banal double meanings probably wasn't necessary. Or am I just being a killjoy?

Related post: "Famous Legal Pleadings," in which it was reported that Legal Underground had been praised for "leading the way in showing that lawyers can use the f-word in their blogs." As I said at the time, it's good to be known for something.

Comments

[mark]

Well ... a former classmate of mine in Alabama wrote a law review article in 1988 regarding the bumper sticker "Fuck Iran"

He mentioned Fuck nearly 50 times. I am trying to find the article.

[Christopher King]

That's funny the author is at Moritz (OSU, Columbus, OH.) There is somewhat of a tradition in liberal thinking coming out of Moritz: My court-appointed mentor and then friend, tenured professor Lou Jacobs taught there prior to retirement. He noted in a letter scanned right here:

http://christopher-king.blogspot.com/2005/12/incredible-comments-from-my-jewish.html

.....that racism, ignorance and reactionary politics played a role in my suspension from practice. Also, given my use of the F and N bombs on my blawg, I'll find this interesting reading.

Peace.

[Christopher King]

Professor Fairman responds:

http://christopher-king.blogspot.com/2006/06/kingcast-presents-lous-cafe-fucking.html

Peace.

[boyrobot]

Haven't read the article yet, I just downloaded.

But the fact that it covers the use of the celebrated term in sexual harassment cases reminded me of an old assignment. Back in law school, I had to do a Memorandum of Law for a colleague, he owned a business and he fired a woman employee, the last thing he told her was: "No, your problem is that you just don't give a fuck!"

Well, it took sixteen pages of legal folderol, but I guess the judge agreed with my analysis that my colleague hadn't used the term in a sexual way.