Barry County  Law Day ceremonies Wednesday started with a welcome from the presiding judge, William Doherty, chief judge of Barry County Courts.

 

 

Next on the agenda, Barry County Bar Association President Robert Byington, who gave a preview of the day’s theme: “Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society.”

“Each year, I am privileged to stand before you to greet you on Law Day. It is a day that I look forward to each year,” he said.

 

“The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right to free speech, along with other rights that recognizes the dignity of individuals to think, believe, worship and communicate how they wish without fear of punishment or oppression. It is difficult to imagine a free society without these individual liberties,” Byington said.

 

As George Washington once wrote, “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter,” he said.

 

The First Amendment also recognizes the freedom of the press, which is similar to freedom of speech, protects the rights of people to say what they believe. Freedom of the press, however, has a purpose beyond mere freedom of expression. It is an essential check on government power because it defends the ability of people to understand how their government and other powerful interests are acting, he continued.

 

He said one of those concepts predates the First Amendment by 50 years.  New York printer Peter Zenger was charged with seditious libel for publishing criticism of the royal government that “would incite public dissatisfaction.”  Zenger was acquitted when his lawyers convinced a jury that the articles were in fact, true, and that New York libel laws should not be the same as English law.

 

Byington has spoken at Law Day for at least the last 15 years.

 

Photo: Attorney Robert Byington, president of the Barry County Bar Association