Blasphemy - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition blasphemy

Definition :

Blasphemy [fr. bl'ptw, Gk., to hurt, and fhmh, reputation; blasfhmw', to speak impiously; blasphemo, Lat., to revile, Wedgw.], an offence against God and religion, by denying to the Almighty His Being and Providence, or by contumelious reproaches of our Saviour Christ. Also, all profane scoffing at the Holy Scripture, and exposing it to contempt and ridicule. It is an indictable misdemeanour at Common Law, see Reg. v. Ramsay & Foote, (1993) 15 Cox, CC 231.

In case an offender has been educated in or at any time made profession of Christianity, the statute 9 & 10 Wm. 3, c. 32 (c. 35 in the Revised Statutes), Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Criminal Law (Offences against Peace, etc.), commonly called 'The Blasphemy Act,' though it is only directed against apostasy, but is cumulative upon the common law, R. v. Carlile, (1819) 3 B. & Ald. 167, very severely punishes any person 'who shall by writing printing teaching or advised speaking, deny the Christian religion to be true, or the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be of divine authority,' and is convicted thereof on indictment by the oath of two or more credible witnesses. The punishment is, for a first offence, disability for and forfeiture of any office 'ecclesiastical, civil, or military'; for a second, disability to sue in any action, or to be guardian of any child, or an executor or administrator, 'or capable of any legacy or deed of gift,' or to bear any office within the realm for ever, and also to
suffer three years' imprisonment. 'So far as I am aware,' wrote Sir F. Pollock in 1895 (Preface to 22 R. R. at p. vi.), 'no prosecution under the statute has ever taken place'; but in Cowan v. Milbourn, (1867) LR 2 Ex. 230, it was held by Bramwell, B., in an action for breach of contract to let a room for lectures intended to show that 'the character of Christ is defective,' etc., that to establish that the lectures were illegal was a good defence. the Court of Appeal, however, has recently declined to follow this case; see Re Bowman, (1915) 2 Ch 447. Consult Odgers on Libel and Slander, 6th Edn., 400. And see SWEARING.

Irreverence toward God, religion, a religious icon or something else considered sacred; Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.

Means the crime of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God or a religion and its doctrines and writings and esp. God as perceived by Christianity and Christian doctrines and writings. In many States blasphemy statutes have been repealed, Webster's Dictionary of Law, Indian Edn. (2005), p. 53.