LAW

Defamation
The law of defamation allows individuals, companies, or firms ('claimants') to sue if a statement said about them has the ability to damage their reputation. 

The relevant law is: The Defamation Act 2013. This law came into force on 1st January replacing the old Act of 1996. It was changed because the large, wide us of social media more and more people became using it so it needed to be clarified. mover another one of the main reasons for the act being changed was because people from other countries were coming over to the UK to sue people for money- but suing them for more money than they would get in their own countries. The new act stops this from happening. 
Who does defamation affect?

• Anyone can publish
• Anyone can sue

There are two types of defamation:

• Libel - this covers the written word. This is a more serious case because it is written and have more evidence. 
• Slander- this covers the spoken word. Slander isthe action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.

Something is defamatory if it:

• Lowers them in the estimation of right- thinking members of the public; and or 
• Causes them to be shunned or avoided; and or
• Disparages them in their office, trade or profession; and or
• Exposes them to be hatred ridicule or contempt.

How much trouble you can get into depends on:

• The moral or public standing of the person you have made a claim about (how much of a reputation they have to protect).
• The audience that received the information (how many people read it).

The person does not need to be actually named to have a case - they can be awarded damage even if they are not named. 

What are the defences? 

• Justification - is it true? They have to have been found guilty by a court of law.
• Fair comment - If it is an opinion or is not intended to be malicious - you have to be careful though as this is a 'grey area'. 
• Public interest- Anything affecting the rights, health, or finances of the public at large. 
• Privilege - From official source. There are two types of privilege: Absolute - which covers anything said in court or the House of Commons. Qualified - song information from an official place stat,went - provided it is without malice and in the public interest. 

Other defences:

• Website owners are protected- where a comment is posted on their site by someone else. 
• Scientific and academic journals are also covered (peer reviewed). 

An example of a recent UK defamation (libel) case:
Louis Walsh settled his libel action against The Sun out of court for £430,000. The paper had published a story in June 2011 based on a false allegation that Louis had sexually assaulted a man in a Dublin nightclub. The headline 'Louis probed over 'sex attack' on man in loo'. This was damaging for Louis because he has a good reputation with people of the public, therefore it has the ability of lowering him in the estimation of the right thinking public. Potentially if people read this story and believable it to be true it could cause him to be shunned and expose him to be under the risk of hatred ridicule. As it was published as a story from The Sun, a large audience of people would have read it therefore the damage would have been bigger. Moreover potentially because he is on TV shows he could have lost his job on the shows as it may give the show a bad reputation if they hired people thought to have been sexual assaulters. Ut may also prevent him from being contacted onto other shows or jobs in future. But the outcome in the end was that Louis said he was happy to settle out of court and receive an apology. 

Contempt of court 

What is contempt of court?
This law exists to protect the running of the court and give everyone a fair trail.  It is covered by the Contempt of Court Act 1981.There maximum prison sentence in the UK is 2 years but the law is becoming increasing difficult to enforce in a digital media world and will have to be updated to keep up to date with modern media. 
If you commit a crime - or even if you are accused of a crime you have the right to a fair trail (you are innocent until proven guilty)

In this country there are two types of law: 

• Civil and criminal law 

There is also...

• Common law is law set by precedent - decisions on previous cases.
• Statute is written law - decided by legislation

What could damage the chances of a fair trail?

• Disrupting court room procedures
• Prejudicing a trail (influencing the options of those responsible for verdicts such as a jury)

A jury is 12 member of the public who hear the evidence in a case and decide on a verdict - guilty/ not guilty. 

What are the main stages of active proceedings?  Crime

• Arrest
• Charge
• Trial- Magistrates then Crown
• Jury deliberations
• Verdict 
• Sentebce or acquittal 

How is contempt deter