[weel]

English libel law is ridiculous, and yet it still hasn't gotten reformed. Remember the McLibel case? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLibel_Case)

I don't exactly sympathize with the panicky rhetoric of the pamphlet that was about, but nothing in it comes anywhere close to the kind of thing libel law legitimately protects against, and it looks like stuff that would be perfectly legal to say in more reasonable jurisdictions like Holland or the US.

But yes, even more outrageous than English libel law (there's no such thing as "UK libel law," since Scots law is different) is this Libel tourism business.

I wonder what it would take to get this reformed. Any British people on here who have a better view of the local political climate? I somehow suspect that a push from local constituent carries more weight in British politics in today's climate than ECHR judgments like the one in the McLibel case. Is there anyone strongly pushing for these strict laws, or is it just a case of inertia combined with nobody pushing very hard against it?

[pbhjpbhj]

>there's no such thing as "UK libel law," since Scots law is different //

If we're being pedantic shouldn't it be England-and-Wales libel law?

[simonh]

s/pedantic/welsh/

What the hell, my karma was getting a bit high anyway.

[pbhjpbhj]

It's actual until recently been a bit redundant as Wales was only really created as a recognisable entity as it was annexed to England (thus becoming part of England as any other county or region, Yorkshire for example).

I've not really researched if Wales exists as a country now only that someone told me the laws establishing the Senedd and giving it powers had changed the situation.

[Tyrannosaurs]

English and Welsh libel law is being reformed - there's a bill going through parliament at the moment. The new law is a long way from perfect but is an improvement.

Scots libel law is different but shares some of the problems as well as having several of it's own.

My favourite is that historic (not something that has been used recently, though technically still true) if you hurt someone's feelings it doesn't matter that you were telling the truth...

[Tyrannosaurs]

Comment for the down vote? The post is, as far as I'm aware, completely factual and I'd be interested to know where I'm wrong.