Defamation Law: A Primer

Raymond E. Brown

1. History
2. Distinguishing Libel and Slander
3. Legal Effect of the Distinction
4. Slander Actionable Per Se
1. Imputations Affecting Business, Office, Job and Profession
2. Imputations of Criminal Offence
3. Imputations of a Contagious or Loathsome Disease
4. Imputing Unchastity to a Woman
5. Slander Actionable by way of Special Damages

1. Defamation Defined
2. Character of the Defamatory Imputation
3. Manner and Form of the Defamatory Imputation

1. Rules of Construction
2. Changing Community Values
3. Context and Circumstances
4. Reasonable Person Test
5. Intent, Understanding and Belief
6. The Innuendo
7. Special Problems of Defamatory Meaning
1. Newspapers and Magazines
2. Television, Radio and Motion Pictures
3. Books
8. Function of Court and Jury

1. Introduction
2. Test for Identification
3. Intent
4. Works of Fiction
5. Identification Within a Group or Class

1. Introduction
2. Liability for Republication by Others
1. General Rule
2. Express or Implied Authority to Republish
3. Moral, Legal or Social Duty to Republish
4. Republication as a Natural and Probable Consequence
3. Liability for Publication by the Plaintiff
4. Liability of Secondary Publisher for Repetition of Defamatory Statements
5. Place of Publication
6. Special Rules of Publication
1. Publication Through the Mail
2. Publication to a Clerk or Secretary
3. Publication in a Will
4. Communications within a Company or Corporation
5. Communications Media

1. Introduction
2. Plaintiffs
1. Individuals
2. Trading Corporations
3. Non-Trading Corporations
4. Unincorporated Associations
5. Governmental Bodies
3. Defendants
1. Corporations
2. Unincorporated Associations
3. Partnerships
4. Governmental Entities
4. Collective Agreement Regimes

1. Introduction
2. Belief and Intention
3. Test for Justification
4. Justifying Part of a Defamation
5. Justifying a Meaning Different from that Pleaded by Plaintiff
6. Burden of Proof

1. Introduction
2. Nature of the Consent

1. Introduction
2. Executive Officers
3. Parliamentary Privilege
4. Judicial Proceedings
1. Introduction
2. Judicial Attributes
3. Persons to Whom the Privilege Extends
1. Immunity of Judges
2. Immunity of Parties
3. Immunity of Counsel
4. Immunity of Witnesses
5. Immunity of Jurors
4. Scope of the Privilege
1. Generally
2. Proceedings in Court
3. Proceedings Outside of Court
4. Documents and Material Filed with or prepared for the Court
5. Documents and Material Issued by the Court
6. Conferences and Interviews
7. Actions in Contemplation of Litigation
8. Information Given to Initiate Legal Proceedings
9. Information Given to Investigative Bodies
10. Communications Outside the Privilege

1. Introduction
2. Classification of Privileges
1. Generally
2. Protecting Personal and Private Interests
3. Protecting Another's Interest
4. Protecting Common Interests
5. Protecting the Public Interest
3. Special Privilege for Political and Governmental Speech
1. Introduction
2. The Australian Privilege
3. The New Zealand Privilege
4. The English Privilege
5. The South African Privilege
6. Assessment of the Privileges

1. Introduction
2. Report of Judicial Proceedings
1. Introduction
2. Fairness and Accuracy
3. Abridgments, Abstracts and Summaries
4. Proceedings in Court
5. Supplementary Statutory Judicial Report Privilege
1. Generally
2. Contemporaneous Report
3. Statements of Contradiction or Explanation
3. Report of Legislative Proceedings
4. Report of Public Documents
5. Report of Governmental Bodies
6. Report of Public Meetings
7. Other Reports Protected by Statute

1. Introduction
2. What is Comment
3. Identifying the Facts
4. Fairness
5. Matters of Public Interest
6. Malice
7. Evaluation of the Defence of Fair Comment

1. Introduction
2. What is Malice?
1. State of Mind
2. Honest Belief
3. Knowing Falsity
4. Recklessness
5. Negligence
3. Evidence of Malice
1. Introduction
2. Intrinsic Evidence
3. Extrinsic Evidence
4. Imputing Malice in Joint Torts

1. Introduction
2. Compensatory Damages
3. Aggravated Damages
4. Aggravating Circumstances
1. Introduction
2. Conduct and Motive of the Defendant
3. Republication or Repetition of Defamation
4. Publication of Additional Defamations
5. Absence of Apology or Retraction
6. Defendant's Influence and Standing in Community
7. Plaintiff's Good Reputation
8. Nature of the Defamation
9. Manner and Extent of Publication
5. Mitigating Circumstances
1. Introduction
2. Apology and Retraction
3. Provocation
4. Plaintiff's Bad Reputation
5. Partial Truth
6. Innocent Intent and Motive
7. Previous or Contemporaneous Publications by Others
8. Miscellaneous Matters in Mitigation
6. Punitive Damages
1. Introduction
2. Basis of Award
3. Multiple Defendants
4. Appellate Review of Punitive Awards

1. Introduction
2. Test for Issuance of Injunction

1. Introduction
2. Historical Development
3. Public Officials
4. Public Figures
1. Introduction
2. All Purpose Public Figure
3. Limited Purpose Public Figure
1. Introduction
2. Voluntariness
3. Nature of the Public Controversy
5. Constitutional Actual Malice
1. Actual Malice Defined
2. Factors in Determining the Existence of Actual Malice
1. Introduction
2. Investigation and Verification
3. Reliability of Informants and Sources
4. Objectivity of Report
5. Publication in the Face of Denial
6. Failure to Protect Against Defamation
7. Frame of Mind of Publisher
8. Retraction and Correction
9. Malice from Language of Publication
3. Vicarious Liability for Actual Malice
4. Inquiries into the Editorial Process and Confidential Sources
6. The Press as a Defendant
1. Introduction
2. Standard of Care of Media Publishers and Broadcasters
3. Who is a Publisher or Broadcaster
4. Privilege of Neutral Reporting
5. Media Damages
7. Private Plaintiffs and Non-Media Defendants
1. Introduction
2. Common Law Strict Liability
3. Negligence Standard
4. Standard of Actual Malice
8. Matters of Public Interest and Concern
9. Expressions of Opinion
1. Introduction
2. Justification of the Rule
3. Scope of the Protection
4. Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion
5. Identifying the Tests
6. Miscellaneous Factors Distinguishing Fact from Opinion
1. Generally
2. Medium of Publication
3. Nature of Publication
4. Character of Publisher
5. Nature of the Audience
6. Evaluations, Assessments and Predictions
7. Rhetorical Hyperbole
8. Cautionary Language
9. Verifiability and Precision of Language
10. Constitutional Appellate Review
11. Summary Judgment Proceedings
12. Impact on the Common Law of Defamation

1. Reflections
2. Proposals
1. Rule of Strict Liability
2. Definition of Malice
3. Expressions of Opinion
3. Conclusion

• Index