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.
Black Death in England. The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic, which reached England in June 1348, and died down by December 1349. It was the first and most severe manifestation of the Second Pandemic, caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria. The term Black Death was not used until the late 17th Century.