Who should have the authority to determine what is art: artists, critics and curators, or lawyers, judges and juries? Should artistic expression be immune from legal ad ethical constraints? Should the law always protect artists and art works? Since the Renaissance, artists have appeared in trials as claimants, asserting their rights, and as defendants who have violated the law. This collection of newly commissioned essays from leading art historians, lawyers and cultural theorists examines many significant trials involving artists: trials in which artists have sought to use the law to protect their art and their reputation (including Whistler, Brancusi, Serra and Büchel), and trials in which artists and curators have experienced censorship by church and state (including the blasphemy and obscenity trials of Veronese, Grosz, the Viennese Actionists, Serrano and Mapplethorpe). Capturing the fascinating drama of these trials, this book charts their influence upon the development of art and the shaping of the law, also considering wider issues--the position of the artist in relation to society, the power to determine how images are created and viewed and the struggle between individual expression and collective beliefs.--P. [4] of cover.