Giving the middle finger is not a criminal rate but a “God-given” right, a judge in Quebec, Canada, ruled in a case accusing a teacher of harassment. Getty Images.

A Texas middle finger case. In 2012, Lance Brown filed an action against Shawn Wilson, an officer in Williamson County, for alleged violations of his civil liberties during a traffic stop.

A Texas middle finger case In 2012, Lance Brown filed an action against Shawn Wilson, an officer in Williamson County, for alleged violations of his civil liberties during a traffic stop.

A $175,000 settlement has been reached in the lawsuit of a Vermont man who said he was arrested after he gave an officer the middle finger, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.

"It is not a crime to give someone the finger. Flipping the proverbial bird is a God-given, Charter enshrined right that belongs to every red-blooded Canadian," Judge Dennis Galiatsatos wrote in ...

A Quebec judge declared last month, as he acquitted a man who had been accused of threatening and harassing his neighbor, that Canadians have a “God-given” right to give someone the middle finger.

A woman gives the middle finger to a cyclist after a run-in with the group in Ballantyne, NC, in 2016. Courtesy of Angela Olson In certain situations, giving someone the one-finger salute is an ...