德普-希尔德的诉讼，谁会赢？
近日，约翰尼·德普（Johnny Depp）和艾梅柏·希尔德（Amber Heard）的世纪诉讼再次引起关注，庭审现场笑料百出，相关视频在社交媒体上被热传。
无注释原文：
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Trial: Experts See No Winners, No Lessons
VARIETY
From his office window, attorney Jon Katz has a direct view of the Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia, and for the past several weeks, he has watched fans gathering outside to catch a glimpse of Johnny Depp.
The trial pitting the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, is the biggest case Katz can recall in 20 years of practicing criminal defense in the area. He also does free-speech work — clients have included strip clubs, adult toy shops and the Westboro Baptist Church — so he has a professional stake in the outcome.
“I want a verdict against both of them,” he says.
Depp and Heard are suing each other for defamation. Depp alleges that Heard destroyed his career when she accused him of domestic violence. She is countersuing over his claim that her allegations are a hoax.
The trial has become a digital media spectacle. At one point during Heard’s May 4 testimony, 587,285 people were watching the Law & Crime livestream. Clips parsing Heard and Depp’s testimonies have been remixed as TikToks and Instagram Reels.
But the case is not that interesting to First Amendment scholars. It is unlikely to set any precedents or become a landmark in the history of defamation law, say several experts.
“It seems like a pretty basic libel claim,” says UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh. “It’s all about the facts. I haven’t seen anything that would actually affect the law.”
Heard published an op-ed in The Washington Post in 2018 in which she alluded to domestic abuse allegations she had leveled against Depp during their divorce two years earlier. She did not name Depp or restate any of the allegations. But she did align her experience with the #MeToo movement.
Depp’s lawsuit was allowed to proceed on the doctrine of defamation by implication, which holds that seemingly neutral and accurate statements can still make a defamatory insinuation. Heard’s claim that she “felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out” was taken to imply that Depp had in fact abused her, though she did not quite say that.
Defamation by implication dates back at least to novelist James Fenimore Cooper, who — tracing a downward arc from literary celebrity to litigious crank — sued a series of newspaper editors in the 1840s.
“He will not like to bring it in New York, for we are known here, nor in Otsego, for he is known there,” wrote editor Horace Greeley.
The remark was taken to imply that Cooper’s bad reputation in his hometown was deserved — and that was held by a New York court to be defamation by implication.
In 2019, the Virginia Press Assn. asked permission to file a brief in the Depp-Heard case, warning the court against expanding the doctrine.
“Broad applications of the defamation by implication doctrine can chill the free press as it would require publishers to consider every potential defamatory implication that could possibly extend from otherwise accurate statements,” wrote VPA attorney Jennifer Nelson, adding that the risks could be particularly acute with celebrity plaintiffs.
Judge Bruce White denied the VPA’s request and allowed Depp’s suit to proceed, citing longstanding Virginia case law.
Whatever the jury decides, the case does not worry Jack Browning, an attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP who represents media clients including the New York Post and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.” He sees the Depp-Heard case as sui generis, and without a lot of bigger lessons.
“Will this case be broadly applicable to clients in the media?” he says. “It’s not obvious that it will.”
The trial has touched on the #MeToo movement, intimate partner violence and the decadence of celebrity. At bottom, it amounts to a couple re-litigating their divorce in public.
“This lawsuit was brought for Johnny to win the court of public opinion,” says entertainment lawyer Mitra Ahouraian, who has watched every minute of the proceedings. “He’s using the courts as a platform to have his side heard.”
But will it work?
“Neither side is going to win,” she says.
- ◆ -
注：中文文本为机器翻译仅供参考，并非一一对应
含注释全文：
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Trial: Experts See No Winners, No Lessons
VARIETY
From his office window, attorney Jon Katz has a direct view of the Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia, and for the past several weeks, he has watched fans gathering outside to catch a glimpse of Johnny Depp.
从他办公室的窗户，乔恩·卡茨（Jon Katz）律师可以直接看到弗吉尼亚州费尔法克斯县法院，在过去的几个星期里，他看到粉丝们聚集在外面，想一睹约翰尼·德普（Johnny Depp）的风采。
trial
1）表示“审讯，审理，审判”，英文解释为“A trial is a formal meeting in a law court, at which a judge and jury listen to evidence and decide whether a person is guilty of a crime.”举个🌰：
I have the right to a trial with a jury of my peers.
我有权要求由和我一样的平民组成的陪审团参加审判。
2）表示“（对能力、质量、性能等的）试验，试用”，英文解释为“the process of testing the ability, quality or performance of sb/sth, especially before you make a final decision about them”。
对比区分：
📍trail作名词则表示“小路，小径”，如：a forest/mountain trail 林间/山间小道，以及“臭迹；踪迹；痕迹；蛛丝马迹，线索”等意思（the smell or series of marks left by a person, animal, or thing as it moves along；various pieces of information that together show where someone you are searching for has gone）举个🌰：
The dogs are trained to follow the trail left by the fox.
这些狗经过特别的训练，能够追踪狐狸留下的气味。
attorney
attorney /əˈtɜːnɪ/ 表示“律师”，英文解释为“In the United States, an attorney or attorney-at-law is a lawyer.”比如我们可以说a prosecuting attorney，即“公诉律师”。
📍再来看看牛津词典中归纳的，各种律师的说法：
glimpse
glimpse一词前几天在iOS 14来了!文中刚出现过Apple just offered a glimpse at how the experience of using an iPhone is about to change.
1）表示“一瞥；一见”，英文解释为“an occasion when you see something or someone for a very short time”举个🌰：
He caught a glimpse of her in the crowd.
他一眼瞥见她在人群里。
2）表示“短暂的感受（或领会/体验）”，英文解释为“a quick idea or understanding of what something is like”举个🌰：
This biography offers a few glimpses of his life before he became famous.
这部传记展示了他成名前的一些生活情况。
📺英剧《神探夏洛克》（Sherlock）第一季中的台词提到：I've given you a glimpse, Sherlock, just a teensy glimpse. 我给过你暗示 夏洛克 一点点提示/只字片语。
The trial pitting the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, is the biggest case Katz can recall in 20 years of practicing criminal defense in the area. He also does free-speech work — clients have included strip clubs, adult toy shops and the Westboro Baptist Church — so he has a professional stake in the outcome.
《加勒比海盗》主演与他的前妻艾梅柏·希尔德（Amber Heard）之间的审判，是卡茨在该地区从事刑事辩护工作20年来所记得的最大的案件。他还从事言论自由相关案子--客户包括脱衣舞夜总会、成人玩具店和威斯特布路浸信会（Westboro Baptist Church）--因此案子的结果对其职业有着重大利害关系。
pit sb/sth against sb/sth
表示“使相斗；使竞争；使较量”，英文解释为“to cause one person, group, or thing to fight against or be in competition with another”，也有用pitch sb/sth against sb/sth这个表达，英文解释为“to make someone fight or compete against someone else”，互相较劲/较量/对立/对战，举个🌰：
The climbers pitted themselves against the mountain.
攀登者与大山一较高下。
It was a bitter war, that pitted neighbour against neighbour.
那是一场可怕的战争，使人和人之间相互为敌。
📍此前，霉霉新歌MV与水果姐拥抱 重归于好文中就提到：It also reiterates that while fans might be out there trying to pit females stars against one another,
strip club
表示“脱衣舞夜总会，脱衣舞酒吧”，英文解释为“a bar where the main entertainment is performers removing their clothes while dancing to music”
have a stake in sth
表示“对…有强烈的兴趣；与…有利害关系”，英文解释为“If you have a stake in something, it is important to you because you have a personal interest or involvement in it.”举个🌰：
Employers have a stake in the training of their staff.
雇主很重视员工培训。
“I want a verdict against both of them,” he says.
他说：“我希望对他们两个人作出判决。”
verdict
1）表示“（经过检验或认真考虑后的）决定，结论，意见”，英文解释为“a decision that you make or an opinion that you give about sth, after you have tested it or considered it carefully”举个🌰：
The doctor's verdict was that he was entirely healthy.
这名医生的判断是他完全是健康的。
2）另一个常用含义，表示“裁定，裁决，裁断”（In a court of law, the verdict is the decision that is given by the jury or judge at the end of a trial.）
🎬电影《真实故事》（True Story）中的台词提到：And the verdict was you're a liar. 而判决是，你是个骗子。
Depp and Heard are suing each other for defamation. Depp alleges that Heard destroyed his career when she accused him of domestic violence. She is countersuing over his claim that her allegations are a hoax.
德普和希尔德正在互相起诉对方的诽谤。德普称，希尔德在指控他实施家暴时毁掉了他的事业。她正在反诉他声称她的指控是骗局的说法。
defamation
表示“诬蔑；诽谤；中伤”，英文解释为“the act of damaging sb's reputation by saying or writing bad or false things about them”举个🌰：
The company sued for defamation.
这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。
countersue
counter-表示“相反的；对立的；相应的”（opposite; against; in return; corresponding），coutersue表示“反诉”。
allegation
表示“指控，指责”，英文解释为“An allegation is a statement saying that someone has done something wrong.”举个🌰：
The company has denied the allegations.
该公司否认了这些指控。
hoax
hoax /hoʊks/ 表示“骗局；恶作剧”，英文解释为“an act intended to make sb believe sth that is not true, especially sth unpleasant”，如：a bomb hoax 炸弹骗局。
The trial has become a digital media spectacle. At one point during Heard’s May 4 testimony, 587,285 people were watching the Law & Crime livestream. Clips parsing Heard and Depp’s testimonies have been remixed as TikToks and Instagram Reels.
这场审判已经成为数字媒体上的一个奇观。在赫德5月4日的证词中，一度有587,285人在观看《法律与犯罪》的现场直播。分析希尔德和德普证词的视频片段已被重新剪辑在TikToks和Instagram Reels上传播。
spectacle
spectacle /ˈspɛktəkəl/ 1）表示“壮观场面；壮观景象”，英文解释为“a public event or show that is exciting to watch; an exciting appearance”举个🌰：
The carnival was a magnificent spectacle.
嘉年华场面十分壮观。
2）表示“不寻常的事；出人意料的情况”，英文解释为“an unusual or unexpected event or situation that attracts attention, interest, or disapproval”举个🌰：
It was a strange spectacle to see the two former enemies shaking hands and slapping each other on the back.
见到两个宿敌握手言欢，拍着彼此的背部，真是一幅奇怪的场景。
testimony
表示“证词；证言；口供”，英文解释为“a formal written or spoken statement saying what you know to be true, usually in court”，如：a sworn testimony 宣誓证词。
remix
表示“合成，再混合（音乐录音）”，英文解释为“to make a new version of a recorded piece of music by using a machine to arrange the separate parts of the recording in a different way, add new parts, etc.”
But the case is not that interesting to First Amendment scholars. It is unlikely to set any precedents or become a landmark in the history of defamation law, say several experts.
但对于第一修正案的学者来说，这个案子并不那么有吸引力。几位专家说，这不太可能开创任何先例或成为诽谤法史上的里程碑。
amendment
表示“修正案”，英文解释为“An amendment is a section that is added to a law or rule in order to change it.”
precedent
表示“先例，前例”，英文解释为“an action, situation, or decision that has already happened and can be used as a reason why a similar action or decision should be performed or made”举个🌰：
There are several precedents for promoting people who don't have formal qualifications.
提拔没有正式学历的人是有几个先例的。
“It seems like a pretty basic libel claim,” says UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh. “It’s all about the facts. I haven’t seen anything that would actually affect the law.”
“这似乎是非常基本的诽谤索赔，”加州大学洛杉矶分校法律教授尤金·沃洛克（Eugene Volokh）说，“这是所有关于事实的问题。我还没有看到任何会真正影响法律的东西。”
libel
libel /ˈlaɪ.bəl/ 表示“（文字性的）诬蔑，诽谤，中伤”，英文解释为“a piece of writing that contains bad and false things about a person”举个🌰：
She threatened to sue the magazine for libel.
她威胁说要起诉该杂志诽谤。
Heard published an op-ed in The Washington Post in 2018 in which she alluded to domestic abuse allegations she had leveled against Depp during their divorce two years earlier. She did not name Depp or restate any of the allegations. But she did align her experience with the #MeToo movement.
希尔德于2018年在《华盛顿邮报》（The Washington Post）发表了一篇专栏文章，其中她暗指她在两年前离婚期间对德普提出的家暴指控。她没有提到德普的名字，也没有重述任何指控。但她确实将她的经历与#MeToo运动联系起来。
op-ed
表示“（报纸中）专栏版”，英文解释为“In a newspaper, the op-ed page is a page containing articles in which people express their opinions about things.”
allude
表示“间接提到；暗指；影射”，英文解释为“to mention sth in an indirect way”举个🌰：
She sometimes alluded to a feeling that she herself was to blame for her son's predicament.
她有时暗示她感到儿子的困境要怪她自己。
level sth against/at sb
表示“公开谴责（某人），公开指责（某人）”，英文解释为“to accuse someone in public of doing something wrong”举个🌰：
Criticism has been levelled at senior figures in the industry.
该行业的高层人物受到了公开谴责。
align
1）表示“排整齐；校准；（尤指）使成一条直线”，英文解释为“to arrange sth in the correct position, or to be in the correct position, in relation to sth else, especially in a straight line”举个🌰：
Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.
务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。
2）表示“使一致”，英文解释为“to change sth slightly so that it is in the correct relationship to sth else”举个🌰：
Prices have been aligned with those in world markets.
价格已调整到与世界市场一致。
Depp’s lawsuit was allowed to proceed on the doctrine of defamation by implication, which holds that seemingly neutral and accurate statements can still make a defamatory insinuation. Heard’s claim that she “felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out” was taken to imply that Depp had in fact abused her, though she did not quite say that.
德普的诉讼获准以暗示诽谤原则继续进行，该原则认为看似中立和准确的陈述仍然可以构成暗示性诽谤。希尔德声称她“感受到了我们文化对直言不讳的女性的全部愤怒”，这被认为暗示德普实际上虐待了她，尽管她并没有这么说。
doctrine
doctrine /ˈdɒktrɪn/ 表示“（尤指政治或宗教的）信条，教义，学说”，英文解释为“a belief or set of beliefs, especially political or religious ones, that are taught and accepted by a particular group”。
implication
1）表示“可能的影响（或作用、结果）”，英文解释为“a possible effect or result of an action or a decision”举个🌰：
The development of the site will have implications for the surrounding countryside.
这个地点的开发将会影响周围的乡村。
2）表示“含意；暗指，暗示”，英文解释为“an occasion when you seem to suggest something without saying it directly”举个🌰：
From what she said, the implication was that they were splitting up.
她的话中暗示他们将要分手。
insinuation
insinuation /ɪnˌsɪn.juˈeɪ.ʃən/ 表示“旁敲侧击的话；影射；暗示”，英文解释为“something that sb insinuates”举个🌰：
She resented the insinuation that she was too old for the job.
她憎恶暗示她太老不适合这项工作的话。
Defamation by implication dates back at least to novelist James Fenimore Cooper, who — tracing a downward arc from literary celebrity to litigious crank — sued a series of newspaper editors in the 1840s.
暗示性诽谤至少可以追溯到小说家詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀（James Fenimore Cooper），从文学名家到诉讼狂人，他在19世纪40年代起诉了一系列的报纸编辑。
litigious
litigious /lɪˈtɪdʒ.əs/ 表示“爱打官司的，好诉讼的”，英文解释为“too often taking arguments to a court of law for a decision”举个🌰：
The US is the most litigious society in the world.
美国是世界上最爱打官司的社会。
crank
1）表示“怪人，古怪的人”，英文解释为“a person who has strange or unusual ideas and beliefs”；
2）表示“讨厌的人；坏脾气的人”，英文解释为“an unpleasant and easily annoyed person”举个🌰：
She's always a crank first thing in the morning.
她早上一起来总爱发脾气。
“He will not like to bring it in New York, for we are known here, nor in Otsego, for he is known there,” wrote editor Horace Greeley.
编辑霍勒斯·格里利（Horace Greeley）写道：“他不会想在纽约起诉，因为我们在这里很有名，也不会在奥塞戈起诉，因为他在那里很有名。”
The remark was taken to imply that Cooper’s bad reputation in his hometown was deserved — and that was held by a New York court to be defamation by implication.
这句话被认为是在暗示库珀在家乡的坏名声是活该的--而这被纽约法院认定为暗示性诽谤。
In 2019, the Virginia Press Assn. asked permission to file a brief in the Depp-Heard case, warning the court against expanding the doctrine.
2019年，弗吉尼亚州新闻协会要求允许在德普-希尔德案中提交一份辩护状，警告法院不要扩大这一原则。
“Broad applications of the defamation by implication doctrine can chill the free press as it would require publishers to consider every potential defamatory implication that could possibly extend from otherwise accurate statements,” wrote VPA attorney Jennifer Nelson, adding that the risks could be particularly acute with celebrity plaintiffs.
VPA律师珍妮弗·纳尔逊（Jennifer Nelson）写道：“广泛适用暗示性诽谤原则会使新闻自由受到影响，因为它要求出版商考虑每一种可能的暗示性诽谤，这些暗示可能会从其他准确的声明中延伸出来，”她补充说，这种风险对名人原告来说可能尤为严重。
plaintiff
📍plaintiff表示“起诉人，原告”，英文解释为“someone who brings a legal action against another person in a court of law”；
📍defendant表示“被告”，英文解释为“the person in a court of law who has been accused of doing something illegal”；
Judge Bruce White denied the VPA’s request and allowed Depp’s suit to proceed, citing longstanding Virginia case law.
布鲁斯·怀特（Bruce White）法官拒绝了VPA的请求，并允许德普的诉讼继续进行，他引用了弗吉尼亚州为时甚久的判例法。
longstanding
表示“由来已久的，长期存在的”，英文解释为“having existed for a long time”如：a long-standing agreement 长期有效的协议。
case law
表示“判例法（以已往的判例为依据的法律）”，英文解释为“law based on decisions that have been made by judges in the past”
Whatever the jury decides, the case does not worry Jack Browning, an attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP who represents media clients including the New York Post and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.” He sees the Depp-Heard case as sui generis, and without a lot of bigger lessons.
无论陪审团如何决定，该案都不会让杰克·布朗宁（Jack Browning）担心，他是戴维斯-莱特-特里梅因律师事务所（Davis Wright Tremaine LLP）的律师，代表的媒体客户包括《纽约邮报》（New York Post）和《约翰·奥利佛上周今夜秀》（Last Week Tonight With John Oliver）。他认为德普-希尔德案是无可比性的，而且没有很多更重要的教训。
sui generis
sui generis /ˌsuː.iː ˈdʒen.ər.ɪs/ 表示“独特的，特有的，自成一类的”，英文解释为“not like anyone or anything else”举个🌰：
In the American academy she remains sui generis, one of a kind.
在美国学术界，她仍然是独树一帜，独一无二。
“Will this case be broadly applicable to clients in the media?” he says. “It’s not obvious that it will.”
他说：“这个案子会广泛适用于媒体客户吗？这明显并不会。”
The trial has touched on the #MeToo movement, intimate partner violence and the decadence of celebrity. At bottom, it amounts to a couple re-litigating their divorce in public.
审判已经触及#MeToo运动、亲密伴侣暴力和明星塌房。从根本上说，这相当于一对夫妇在公众面前重新提起离婚诉讼。
intimate
表示“亲密的；有性关系的；宜于密切关系的”，英文解释为“having, or being likely to cause, a very close friendship or personal or sexual relationship”如：intimate relationships 亲密关系，举个🌰：
The restaurant has a very intimate atmosphere.
这家餐厅的氛围很怡人。
decadence
decadence /ˈdek.ə.dəns/ 表示“堕落，颓废，腐朽”，英文解释为“low moral standards and behaviour”如：Western decadence 西方的堕落。
amount to sth
表示“等于；意味着”，英文解释为“to be the same as something, or to have the same effect as something”举个🌰：
His behaviour amounted to serious professional misconduct.
他的行为相当于严重失职。
litigate
litigate /ˈlɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/ 表示“起诉，控告；提起诉讼”，英文解释为“to ask for a disagreement to be discussed in a court of law so that a judgment can be made that must be accepted by both sides in the argument”
“This lawsuit was brought for Johnny to win the court of public opinion,” says entertainment lawyer Mitra Ahouraian, who has watched every minute of the proceedings. “He’s using the courts as a platform to have his side heard.”
“这场诉讼是为了让约翰尼·德普赢得舆论场，”娱乐律师米特拉·阿胡拉安（Mitra Ahouraian）说，她观看了诉讼的每一分钟。“他在利用法庭作为一个平台，让人们听到他的观点。”
proceedings
1）表示“一系列事件；一系列活动”，英文解释为“a series of events that happen in a planned and controlled way”举个🌰：
Millions of people watched the proceedings on television.
数百万人通过电视观看了这一系列活动。
2）表示“诉讼”，英文解释为“legal action”举个🌰：
I started legal proceedings to try to have him taken away from his parents permanently.
我提起诉讼，想把他从父母身边永远带走。
But will it work?
但这能起作用吗？
“Neither side is going to win,” she says.
她说：“双方都不会赢。”
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LearnAndRecord
2015年2月8日
2022年5月11日
第2650天
每天持续行动学外语