"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:

<div style="display: none;">Sanford_White</div>In 1907, Harry K. Thaw was tried for the murder of Stanford White.

  • 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 Roscoe Arbuckle for the rape and murder of Virginia Rappe (1921)
  • Leopold and Loeb murder trial (1924)
  • Scopes Trial (1925)
  • Hall–Mills murder case (1926)
  • Scottsboro Boys trials (1931–1937)
  • Lindbergh kidnapping trial (1935)
  • Nuremberg trials (1945–1946)
  • Tokyo war crimes tribunal (1946–1948)
  • 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)
  • Trial of Jeremy Thorpe for conspiring to murder Norman Josiffe (Thorpe affair) (1979)
  • Ted Bundy Chi Omega Trial (1979)
  • Claus von Bülow trials (1982–1985)
  • Trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu (1989)
  • 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)

21st century

  • Trial of Joseph Estrada (2001–07)
  • Trial of Slobodan Milošević (2002–05)
  • 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)
  • Trial of People of the State of California v. Daystar Peterson (2022)
  • Depp v. Heard (2022)
  • Trial of Ferdy Sambo for the murder of Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat (2022–2023)
  • XXXTentacion murder trial (2023)
  • Trial of Alex Murdaugh (2023)
  • Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried (2023)
  • Trial of the Hong Kong 47 (20232024)
  • the trials of Luigi Mangione
  • Trial for the 2022–2023 Brazilian coup plot (2025)
  • Trial of Sean Combs (2025)
  • trial of Tyler Robertson
  • Trial of Sheikh Hasina (2025)

See also

  • Cause célèbre
  • Crime of the century
  • Lists of landmark court decisions
  • Media circus
  • Trial by media

References

  • 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