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Jurisdiction--Libel--First Amendment's Role In Determining Place Of Trial In Libel Actions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The seeming unfairness of basing jurisdiction solely on such ordinarily inconsequential acts as mailing a newspaper into another state has troubled some courts. Traditionally, the validity of such a jurisdictional basis would be judged against the fourteenth amendment standard of "fair play." In several recent cases, however, courts have brought to bear constitutional standards of free speech as well as of fairness in dealing with the problem of jurisdiction over the out-of- state defendant in a libel action. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in deciding New York Times Co. v. Connor, ruled that "First Amendment considerations …