As the dedication ofthis book suggests, the genesis ofthis book arises from my association with Cha'im Perelman. Because I was one of the few Americans to comment on his TraUe de l' argumentation: la nouvelle rhetorique, before it was translated into English, I was invited to a conference celebrating the translation ofthat monumental work into English that was held in August 1970 in Santa Barbara, Califomia at the Center for the Study ofDemocratic Institutions, which was then under the directorship of the late Robert M. Hutchins. From that beginning, Professor Perelman and I developed a...

Philosopher Kings? The Adjudication of Conflicting Human Rights and Social Values, by George C. Christie, examines the attempts by courts to sort out conflicts involving freedom of expression, including religious expression, on the one hand, and rights to privacy and other important social values on the other. It approaches the subject from a comparative perspective, using principally cases decided by European and United States courts.

A significant part of this book analyzes conflicts between freedom of expression and the right...