Japanese

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Words and Their Stories -- a program in Special English. Every word has its own story. Where did it come from? How did it get into the language?

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Our words today are "Philadelphia lawyer."
Men have often been praised by being told that they were as smart as a Philadelphia lawyer. No one knows why there is something special about Philadelphia lawyers, but the expression, "smart as a Philadelphia lawyer," seems to have come from a famous trial early in the 18th century.

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An Englishman, William S. Cosby, arrived in New York as the Royal Governor of the Province. He was a tyrant. He wanted to make money quickly, and he ruled the province with no thought for the law or the rights of the people. Among those who opposed his rule was John Peter Zenger who came to America from Germany. Mr. Zenger started a newspaper which praised liberty and sharply criticized the governor. He also published poems which made fun of the governor. Governor Cosby arrested Mr. Zenger charged him with slander and kept him in prison for nine months. Mr. Zenger could not find a New York lawyer to defend him because of the governor's power. But a leading lawyer from Philadelphia agreed to defend Mr. Zenger. He was Andrew Hamilton, white-haired and almost 80 years old.

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The trial opened; the jury chosen; the charges read. At that time, the law on slander said that the jury could decide only if the person accused published the newspaper named in the charges. The question of whether the words published were true or not was to be decided by the judge. Mr. Zenger told the court he was innocent. Then, the lawyer from Philadelphia rose, admitted that Mr. Zenger did publish the newspaper as charged, but Mr. Hamilton continued: "The publishing of a newspaper does not make a person guilty of slander." He said that the words themselves must be proved false and slanderous, otherwise Mr. Zenger is innocent. The judge warned Mr. Hamilton that he, the judge, would decide if the words were slanderous or not. Mr. Hamilton quickly turned to the jury and asked them to decide. He said it was their right to decide whether the alleged slander was, in fact, the truth. In his final statement to the jury, Mr. Hamilton said the question was much bigger than the charges against Mr. Zenger. He said the question was liberty and the right of a people to oppose dishonesty and tyranny by speaking and writing the truth. After a brief discussion, the jury declared that Mr. Zenger was not guilty, and cheers broke out in the courtroom. The decision established the principle of freedom of the press in the American colonies. Mr. Hamilton was praised as a hero.

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Through the years, the fame of the Zenger trial and the praise for Mr. Hamilton has spread throughout the country. And so, it was believed that the expressron "as smart as a Philadelphia lawyer," honors the man from Philadelphia who successfully defended the freedom of the press to print the truth.

Voice of America

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