MC 3080 Chapter : I Defamation And Libel Sept 30
Document Summary
But you can defame a corporation, a business, a npo: libel vs. slander, written is libel, oral is slander. In england during the colonies, defamation was actually considered criminal: blasphemous libel church, defamatory/tort libel against a person, seditious libel against the government. We"re gonna talk about that middle ground today: a distinction between individual rights and free speech, political speech, essentially. Before 1964, defamation was over there with obscenity and fighting words, it was not protected: a lot of defamation cases were settlements. The side of the law was so heavy on the defamed individual, that the defendant hardly had a shot: defaming was far heavier than the rights granted through the first amendment. In libel law, until 1964 the opposite of this line was true: innocent until proven guilty : defendant had to prove that he didn"t defame someone, prove a negative, truth wasn"t good enough, wasn"t a defense.
