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Canadian defamation law refers to defamation law as it stands in both common law and civil law jurisdictions in Canada. As with most Commonwealth jurisdictions, Canada follows English law on defamation issues (except in the province of Quebec where private law is derived from French civil law).
R v Lucas is the leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on the criminal offence of defamatory libel. [2] The Court held that the Criminal Code offence of defamatory libel infringed the constitutional protection of freedom of expression under Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the offence was a reasonable limit prescribed by law under Section 1 of the Charter.
[12]: 51 The law encourages the media to publish with caution, to avoid any forms of libel and to respect a person's freedom of expression. "Defamatory libel" is a criminal offence under the Criminal Code. Subsection 298(1) defines defamatory libel as "a matter published, without lawful justification or excuse, that is likely to injure the ...
Criminal libel is a legal term, of English origin, which may be used with one of two distinct meanings, in those common law jurisdictions where it is still used.. It is an alternative name for the common law offence which is also known (in order to distinguish it from other offences of libel) as "defamatory libel" [1] or, occasionally, as "criminal defamatory libel".
This did not mean the Court had to adopt the "actual malice" standard of libel from American jurisprudence. In refusing to change Canadian law and bringing it more into line with "actual malice" standard applied in the US law (following the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case) Cory J., writing for the majority, stated (at ¶ 138):
The Criminal Code contains some defences, but most are part of the common law rather than statute. Important Canadian criminal laws not forming part of the Code include the Firearms Act , the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act , the Canada Evidence Act , the Food and Drugs Act , the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the Contraventions Act .
In Canada, legal limitations on freedom of expression include: Sedition, fraud, specific threats of violence, and disclosure of classified information; Civil offences involving libel, defamation, fraud, or workplace harassment; Violations of copyright laws; Criminal offences involving hate speech and genocide advocacy
(Under the law prior to this decision any false statement could, if found to be defamatory, be grounds for damages.) Instead it raises the question of whether factual errors were made in good faith. "Actual malice" means then that the defendant intentionally made false statements of alleged facts, or recklessly failed to verify alleged facts ...