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.
slide 1 of 3. Bubonic Plague. The Black Death - also known as the bubonic plague - was a disease that devastated Medieval Europe like no other. Between 1346 and 1352 it killed 45 million people, wiping out a third of Europe's population. Even today just mentioning the word black death or black plague sends shudders of horror through adults and children alike and reflects on the plague's swiftness and terrible ferocity in how it killed its victims.