Thursday, 17 October 2019
Law in Action
Defamation
- Law of deformation - protects the reputation of a person from the defamatory
statements made about him to a third party without lawful justi cation.
- 2 parties; one being defamed and the one defaming
- Protected by Defamation Act 1996
- A statement is defamatory if it tends to lower the claimant in the estimation of
right thinking members of society generally (Sim v Stretch - 1936)
- To prove defamation the claimant must show defamatory language by the
defendant which:
- Identi es or refers to the claimant and is published to a third party
Presumption of falsehood:
- law pressures that the defamatory statement is false and that the claimant is of
good reputation
- Claimant isn’t required to prove any actual damage to reputation or other loss
- The burden of establishing the truth of the statement of any other defence is one
the defendant
- Media should consider If the piece is true, if it can be proved, if can’t be proved
is it covered by one of the defences to defamation and is the subject of the piece
is likely to sue.
Libel and Slander: (2 categories)
- Libel: (more serious) is defamation in writing or some other permanent form (e.g.
radio, TV, computer generated transmissions etc).
- Slander: (less serious) spoken defamation of defamatory language in some other
temporary form.
- Distinction between the two:
- Relevant only to the issue of damages
1
fi fi
Law in Action
Defamation
- Law of deformation - protects the reputation of a person from the defamatory
statements made about him to a third party without lawful justi cation.
- 2 parties; one being defamed and the one defaming
- Protected by Defamation Act 1996
- A statement is defamatory if it tends to lower the claimant in the estimation of
right thinking members of society generally (Sim v Stretch - 1936)
- To prove defamation the claimant must show defamatory language by the
defendant which:
- Identi es or refers to the claimant and is published to a third party
Presumption of falsehood:
- law pressures that the defamatory statement is false and that the claimant is of
good reputation
- Claimant isn’t required to prove any actual damage to reputation or other loss
- The burden of establishing the truth of the statement of any other defence is one
the defendant
- Media should consider If the piece is true, if it can be proved, if can’t be proved
is it covered by one of the defences to defamation and is the subject of the piece
is likely to sue.
Libel and Slander: (2 categories)
- Libel: (more serious) is defamation in writing or some other permanent form (e.g.
radio, TV, computer generated transmissions etc).
- Slander: (less serious) spoken defamation of defamatory language in some other
temporary form.
- Distinction between the two:
- Relevant only to the issue of damages
1
fi fi
