Dear Colleagues,

 

Members may be interested to know that the Ministry of Justice in England is undertaking a consultation on defamation and the internet, considering in particular whether to review the “multiple publication rule”. The consultation comes some seven years after a relevant Law Commission project (Law Commission, Defamation and the Internet: A Preliminary Investigation, Scoping Study No 2, December 2002) and coincides with a rise in adverse media coverage here about libel tourism and our allegedly overly claimant-friendly libel laws, particularly in the context of material published on the internet but originally in another jurisdiction. It considers Berezovsky and Loutchansky and there are also questions about the limitation periods for such claims. There is an alternative suggestion to extend “the defence of qualified privilege to publications on online archives outside the one year limitation period for the initial publication, unless the publisher refuses or neglects to update the electronic version, on request, with a reasonable letter or statement by the claimant by way of explanation or contradiction.”  The consultation is available here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/defamation-internet-consultation-paper.htm and is open until 16^th December 2009.

 

On this general theme, two recent judicial speeches may be of interest: by Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, who spoke to the Society of Editors last week (http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/speeches/lcj-society-editors-nov-2009.pdf) and by Mr Justice Eady (http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/speeches/justice-eady-univ-of-hertfordshire-101109.pdf)

 

Best wishes,

 

James