Earliest Use Of Phrase “The Matrix”

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Found this book at Bitsavers, titled “The Matrix”
<http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/_Books/_Digital_Press/Quarterman_The_Matrix_1990.pdf>.
The subject is “computer networks and conferencing systems worldwide”.
Note the year of publication: 1990.

The front matter includes a quote from a court case:

“Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition
of nearly every other form of freedom.”

The case is named as “Palko v Connecticut”, without a date given. An
online search gives the year as 1937.

Of course, the meaning of “matrix” in that court case is akin to the
scientific term for the nutrient medium in lab cultures: it is the
essential environment that must exist in which you grow things you
care about.

[JB Schirtzinger]

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro
Palko v Connecticut

Here is a synopsis of that case involving the fifth and fourteen
amendments and how the 14th makes the Double Jeopardy clause apply to
the states, among other things:
https://www.uky.edu/~dsvoss/docs/ps461/palko.htm