tort: defamation

Question 1

what 3 things have to happen to qualify for defamation

Answer 1

1) statment made. has to. be untrue (if its true its. freedom of speech)
2). has to be communicated or published to. a third party( doesnt count for conversations between two people)

3) statement damages the. claimants reputation (this. was added by. the. deformation act

Question 2

what did. deformation have. to be. before the defamation act. 2013?

Answer 2

• had. to cause harm. but the act claridies that the act. has to. damagereputation)

Question 3

when was the defamation act?

Answer 3

2013

Question 4

why were defamation cases heard. with. a jury in the. past

Answer 4

becuase the only. way to know. if someones. reputation has been. damages was if correct. minded. members of society would. shun them. therfore teh general. public of the dury decided

removed by. the 2013 def act not they

Question 5

what courts were defamation cases tried in?

Answer 5

civil. high. courts.

another reason whymost defamation. cases are only brought by those inthe. public eye is due to the hgih. court cost of. holding a trial

after def actthey cna be tried in small claims courts alloing non famous people to claim (hasnt. happened yet)

Question 6

what. case changed the rules on who. set damages of the case

Answer 6

john v mirror group

as. the. jury decided the damages, and. elton john. was very popular at the time they fined the. mirror 300,000 which. was arguably disproportinate

so now judges decide. damages

Question 7

what. are the two types of defamation?

Answer 7

• slander
• libel

Question 8

what is slander

Answer 8

• slanderous defamation has to be spokee
• has to be proven that the. slander has. already caused damages either finaical loss or if the statement implies someone has committed a criminal. offence. and its untrue

Question 9

what is libel

Answer 9

• when defamation occurs in permenant form such. as written in a newspaper, in a film or sculptureect
• this si the. biggest most serious type of defamation
• actionable per say: no harm caused is neccecary as long. as you can prove the statement could. POTENTIALLY cause harm

Question 10

sheridon v news of the world

Answer 10

sheridon sues news of the world for defamation as they published damming stories of his life on drugs and as a swinger as he was running to be elected. he won initally

but when he confided in his friend that it was true he was recorded saying this and then was charges with purgery

Question 11

before 2013 what criteria of defamation was there?

Answer 11

if it brought the claimant contempt, ridicule or make people shun or avoid them

Question 12

berkoff v burchill

Answer 12

case that states that if art critics start to personally attack somones looks rather than their art it is defamation as it could stop them from getting jobs in the future

Question 13

why are there differences between slander and libel

Answer 13

slander refers to things said out loud and therefore there are harsher certeria to prove it. as things said outloud are usually spontaneous and less calculative thought goes into them

whereas with libel it has been written down it is more calcautive and therfore only needs tobe porven it could cause potential damage

Question 14

john v mirror group

Answer 14

• after this case power of setting damages was given to the judge rather than the dury as they are cases of famous people

Question 15

depp v news group

Answer 15

shows that even after defamation is proven a famous persons career can still be ruined

Question 16

McAlpine V Bercow

Answer 16

• tweets are libel defamation as they are written down

Question 17

what are the defences for defamation:

Answer 17

• truth
• honest opinion
• publication of the matter was of public intereest
• operater of website: if you operate a website and havent had the chance to take it down yet
• academic privilege: scientific repeorts or academic journals cant count