ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at historical cases, including social networking libel and internet cases, and the award of damages by courts, said to vindicate injury to reputation and the surrounding publicity of any false statements which have been published. The law of defamation is at times concerned with conflicting issues of great sensitivity, involving both the protection of good reputation and the maintenance of the principle of free speech. The tort of defamation exists to afford redress for unjustified injury to reputation. By a successful action the injured reputation is vindicated. The tort of defamation developed through the common law tradition over hundreds of years, periodically being supplemented by statute. It is important to note that the Defamation Act 2013 reforms aspects of the law of defamation which means that common law continues to co-exist alongside statute. Hooper et al. argue that the Defamation Act 2013 has not made enough changes, and still favours claimants.
