I know it when I see it
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The phrase that I know it when I see it usually describes something that is hard to define but can be recognized by intuition. It became "one of the most famous phrase in the entire history" of the United States Supreme Court[1] by Potter Stewart's concurring opinion in the case of Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964). Justice Stewart used it to give a vague standard for pornography. He wrote: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." (emphasis added)
The I-know-it-when-I-see-it standard was praised as "candor" [2] or "realistic and gallant" [3]. It has also been criticized as unrational.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Paul Gewirtz, "On 'I Know It When I See It'", Yale Law Journal, Vol. 105, pp. 1023-1047 (1996)
- ^ Richard A. Posner, Law and Literature: A Misunderstood Relation p.308 (1988)
- ^ Harry Kalven, Jr., A Worthy Tradition: Freedom of Speech in America, p.40 (1988)
