Generally, a person may be punished for sedition only when he or she makes statements that create a Clear and Present Danger to rights that the government may lawfully protect (schenck v. united states, 249 U.S. 47, 39 S. Ct. 247, 63 L. Ed. 470 [1919]).
The epidemic reached its zenith in the years 1348 to 1350, though the disease never vanished entirely. It is widely believed that the cause of the Black Death was bubonic plague, an infectious and fatal illness spread by rodents and the fleas infesting them.
In November 1347 a Genoese ship returning from the Black Sea called at Naples on its route home. It brought the pestilence or great mortality to Europe. The disease - later called the Black Death (because of the dark patches on the skin caused by subcutaneous bleeding) was probably Bubonic Plague. Bubonic plague is carried by black rats, and spread to humans by the fleas that infest them. Human carriers could themselves pass on the infection through contact or the air.