Public Regulation of Non-Commercial Speech in the United States and United Kingdom: A Comparison

Abstract

In this paper, authors Sullivan and Solomou compare regulation of non-commercial speech (such as social, political and religions expression) in the United States and the United Kingdom. The paper traces regulation of speech generally in the United States under the First Amendment, which gradually applied to state and local regulation of expression, then in a different way to commercial speech, and then more recently to limit different regulations to different types of non-commercial speech in Reed v. Gilbert, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015. In the United Kingdom, Parliament has always asserted the right to regulate speech, and may regain that right after Brexit. Until that time the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998), which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the European Convention) into domestic law will prevail. The authors discuss the case law under both of these fundamental enactments and compare the two in their conclusions.

Keywords: Freedom of Expression, Constitutional Law, European Convention on Human Right

JEL Classification: I 130