Clifford, a barrister,
brought an action against Brandon for false imprisonment. In this case
the Court of King's Bench decided that, although the audience in a
public theatre have a right to express the feelings excited at the
moment by the performance, and in this manner to applaud or hiss any
piece which is represented, or any performer; yet if a number of
persons, having come to the theatre with a predetermined purpose of
interrupting the performance, for this end make a great noise so as to
render the actors inaudible, though without offering personal violence
or doing injury to the house, they are in law guilty of a riot.
Serjeant Best, the counsel for the plaintiff, urged that, as plays and
players might be hissed, managers should be liable to their share;
they should be controlled by public opinion; Garrick and others had
yielded cheerfully to the jurisdiction of the pit without a thought of
appealing to Westminster Hall. "Bells and rattles," added the
serjeant, "may be new to the pit; but catcalls, which are equally
stunning, are as old as the English drama.
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