Lecture notes
torts
Lecture notes study book Tort Law Directions of Carol Brennan, Vera Bermingham - ISBN: 9780198853923, Edition: 7th Revised edition, Year of publication: - (work)
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⇒DefamationDefamation is a tort against the reputation or
good name of the claimant
• All persons are presumed to have a
reputation which the law recognises as
having a value worthy of legal protection
• Any ‘statement’ about a person which is
capable of damaging their reputation is,
prima facie, defamatory and may give rise to
a claim
⇒ Claims in defamation are not confined to
statements made in verbal form. Any
representation is capable of founding a claim,
if it could be understood as defamatory to the
claimant (e.g. drawing/waxwork/photo)
⇒ The tort is to some extent a wealthy persons
tort since legal aid is currently not available
either to pursue, or to defend, a defamation
action
LIBEL AND SLANDER
⇒ Defamation consists of two separate torts:
libel and slander
⇒ The main difference between them is that libel
is the correct cause of action when the
statement is in a permanent form; slander is
where the statement is in transitory/temporary
form
• The most evident distinction is between
spoken words, which found a claim in
, slander; and written words, which lead to a
claim in libel
Libel
INTRODUCTION TO LIBEL
⇒ Anything communicated in the form of permanent
character and visible to the eye is libel, and
anything temporary and merely audible is slander
i.e. defamatory books, newspapers, letters etc.
are all libels, while spoken words are slander
⇒ What is more difficult, is how to characterise
things which are in permanent form but only
audible, and things which are visible but not in
permanent form, such as material posted on the
internet
⇒ The definition of libel arose in the case of
Youssoupoff (1934):
• The court said it was necessary to show not
only that the communication is permanent but
also that it is visible
• In the case, Slesser LJ held that the film's
picture, being a “permanent matter to be
seen by the eye” could be regarded as libels
and said the sound recording, too, was
libellous as it was “ancillary” to the
visual images
• Where a sound recording exists independently
of any visual image, Slesser LJ’s reasoning
suggests that the liability would arise only
in slander
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