British Libel Law – Suppression of Truth in the US and UK?
by Adrian Morgan

In June last year I wrote on the situation of Rachel Ehrenfeld, who was landed with a default libel judgment against her at the High Court in London. Dr. Ehrenfeld had decided not to attend the hearing for libel, pertaining to statements she had made in her book: “Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop it". The ruling against her was made by High Court judge, Mr. Justice Eady. As British lawyer Mark Stephens wrote in the London Times, her book was "unobjectionable by American libel standards."

The vast differences between British libel law and American libel law means that several authors and publishers whose work was aimed at an American market have been sued in Britain. Under UK libel law, the defendant is presumed guilty and must prove innocence, a reversal of the tired cliché that one is "innocent until proved guilty." Additionally, under UK law there is no duty to show that the defendant acted "with malice," as there is in the US.

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Pertinent Links:

1) British Libel Law – Suppression of Truth in the US and UK?