A forgotten Document on freedom of cursing and swearing. The anonymous Vindication of 1746

Presumably in 1746, an anonymous pamphlet entitled A short and modest Vindication of the common Practice of Cursing and Swearing was published in London. The pamphlet was occasioned by the Profane Oaths Act of 1746, which enforced seventeenth-century legislation against cursing and swearing; the Vindication criticized the new Act for being disrespectful to British customary liberties, politically dangerous and totally pointless. The interest of the pamphlet lies in highlighting the historical context in which the struggle for freedom of the press and freedom of speech took place, as well as in the use of well-established arguments for freedom of expression, such as those employed by Milton and Hume, to defend a customary linguistic practice.