"Trial of the century" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such is not an objective observation. The Encyclopedia Britannica Online noted:
Attorney F. Lee Bailey and The Washington Post observed in 1999:
Sanford_WhiteIn 1907, Harry K. Thaw was tried for the murder of Stanford White. Irvin S. Cobb, a contemporary reporter, explained why the trial fascinated the country so much:
List of cases
19th century Trial of Madeleine Smith (1857) Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) Trial of John Brown (1859) Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson (1868) Trial of Charles J. Guiteau for the assassination of United States president James A. Garfield (1881) Trial of Lizzie Borden for the double murder of her father and stepmother (1893) Trial of Alfred Dreyfus for treason (Dreyfus Affair) (1894–1899)
20th century Trial of Leon Czolgosz for the assassination of William McKinley (1901) Trial of Harry Thaw for the murder of Stanford White (1906) Trial of Bill Haywood for murder (1907) Sacco and Vanzetti murder trial (1920–27) Trial of Roscoe Arbuckle for the rape and murder of Virginia Rappe (1921) Leopold and Loeb murder trial (1924)DOUGLAS O. LINDER. "THE LEOPOLD AND LOEB TRIAL: A BRIEF ACCOUNT" , Law Faculty, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1997. "..the Leopold and Loeb trial has the elements to justify its billing as the first "trial of the century." Scopes Trial (1925) Hall–Mills murder case (1926)Harold Schechter, "The Hall-Mills Murder Trial, 1926" Yale Review, Yale University Scottsboro Boys trials (1931–1937) Lindbergh kidnapping trial (1935) Nuremberg trials (1945–1946) Tokyo war crimes tribunal (1946–1948) Subsequent Nuremberg trials (1946–1949) Victor Kravchenko versus Les Lettres Françaises (1949) Hiss–Chambers (Hiss Case/Hiss Affair) (1948–1950) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg espionage trial (1951) Sam Sheppard trials (1954–1966) Adolf Eichmann trial (1961) Charles Manson and Manson Family for the Tate–LaBianca murders (1970) Trial of Jeremy Thorpe for conspiring to murder Norman Josiffe (Thorpe affair) (1979) Ted Bundy Chi Omega Trial (1979)Hagood, Dick (February 10, 1980). "Bundy Jury: Death" Florida Times Union archive . Retrieved August 30, 2011. Claus von Bülow trials (1982–1985) Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu (1989) Trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez (1990) Trial of Imelda Romualdez Marcos (1990) Rodney King beating trials (1992–1993) Trial of Mayor Antonio Sanchez for the rape and murder of Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez (1993–1995) Trial of Hubert Webb for the Vizconde massacre case (1995–2000) O. J. Simpson murder case trial (1995) Trial of Yolanda Saldívar (1995) Impeachment trial of Bill Clinton (1999) Bush v. Gore case that ended the recount in Florida (2000)
21st century Trial of Joseph Estrada (2001–07)New York Times, Philippines Ex-President Convicted Trial of Slobodan Milošević (2002–05) Trial of Zvezdan Jovanović and accomplices for the assassination of Zoran Đinđić (2003–07) Trial of Saddam Hussein (2004–06) Trial of Michael Jackson (2005) Trial of Amanda Knox (2009) Trial of Ampatuan brothers for the Maguindanao massacre case (2010–2019) Trial of Casey Anthony for the death of Caylee Anthony (2011) People v. Murray (2011) Trial of George Zimmerman (2013) Trial of Bo Xilai (2013) Trial of Oscar Pistorius (2014) Trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera ("El Chapo") (2018–19) Trial of Catalonia independence leaders (2019) Trial of Benjamin Netanyahu (2020–present) Trials of Donald Trump First impeachment trial of Donald Trump (2020) Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump (2021) Prosecution of Donald Trump in New York (2024) Trial of Derek Chauvin (2021) United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, et al. (2021–2022) Depp v. Heard (2022) Trial of Ferdy Sambo for the murder of Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat (2022–2023) Trial of Alex Murdaugh (2023) Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried (2023) Trial of the Hong Kong 47 (20232024) Trial for the 2022–2023 Brazilian coup plot (2025) Trial of Sean Combs (2025)
See also
Cause célèbre Crime of the century Lists of landmark court decisions Media circus Trial by media
References
External links MSNBC survey on the topic from 2000 "(The Last) Trial of the Century!" by Peter Carlson via The Washington Post, January 4, 1999; Page C01 20 "Trials of the Century" in the 20th century