Reputation and Defamation

Lawrence McNamara

Attempts to correct a major deficiency in the common law of defamation by defining the core concept of reputation that lies at its heart
Provides a rigorous, original theory of reputation by combining analysis of the established common law doctrine of defamation with historical and philosophical enquiry
Features an international, comparative perspective analysing the case-law from the United States, England, Australia and other common law jurisdictions
Critiques the failings of existing legal tests for defamation and offers potential solutions for how cases could be argued and judgements expressed

Reputation and Defamation

Lawrence McNamara

Description

The proposition that the tort of defamation protects reputation has long been axiomatic in the law. The axiom's endurance is surprising: it has long been observed that the law is riddled with inconsistencies and, moreover, the courts and the scholarly literature have rarely discussed exactly what reputation is and how judgments about reputation are made. Reputation and Defamation develops a theory of reputation and uses it to analyse, evaluate and propose a revision of the law. It is the first book to present a comprehensive study of what reputation is, how it functions, and how it is and should be protected under the law.

Reputation, it argues, is best understood in terms of the moral judgments a community makes about its members. Viewed in this way it becomes apparent, contrary to the legal orthodoxy, that defamation law did not really aim and function to protect reputation until the early nineteenth century. Unfortunately, the modern common law has not paid sufficient attention to either the nature of reputation or the historical relationship between reputation and defamation. Consequently, the tests for what is defamatory do not always protect reputation adequately or appropriately. The 'shun and avoid' and 'ridicule' tests have developed so that a publication may be actionable even where it does not tend to prompt a negative moral judgment of the plaintiff. These tests should be discarded. The principal 'lowering the estimation' test, however, is for the most part appropriately geared to the protection of reputation. Importantly, the scope of legal protection has been limited. Words will only be actionable if they tend to make 'right-thinking' people think the less of the plaintiff. The values of Christian tradition and Victorian moralism which became embedded in the concept of 'the right-thinking person' are problematic in the current era of moral diversity.

A revised legal framework is proposed. It retains the principal test but re-thinks how and why different criteria for moral judgment should - or should not - be recognised when courts determine whether an attack on reputation will be actionable as defamation. It is argued that 'the right-thinking person' should be associated with an inclusive liberal premise of equal moral worth and a shared commitment to moral diversity. The proposed framework demands that when courts recognise values at odds with that premise then such recognition must be justified on sound and expressly stated ethical grounds. That demand serves to protect reputation appropriately and effectively in an age of moral diversity.

Reputation and Defamation

Lawrence McNamara

Introduction
Part One: Theorising Reputation
1:Reputation and Community: The Centrality of Moral Judgment
2:Moral Judgment and Conceptions of Reputation
Part Two: History, Law and Reputation
3:Reputation and the History of Defamation
4:The Development of the Common Law Actions
Part Three: Reputation and Actionable Defamation in the Modern Common Law
5:Protecting Reputation: The Principal Test for What is Defamatory
6:The 'Shun and Avoid' Test as the Basis for Actionability
7:The Ridicule Test as the Basis for Actionability
8:Ethical Recognition, Moral Diversity and 'The Right-Thinking Person'
Conclusion: Re-thinking the Tests for What is Defamatory

Reputation and Defamation

Lawrence McNamara

Author Information

Lawrence McNamara, Reader, School of Law, University of Reading

Reputation and Defamation

Lawrence McNamara

Reviews and Awards

"McNamara has produced a stimulating and valuable contribution to the literature" - Professor Ken Oliphant, European Tort Law

"...an important and elegantly-argued addition to the Common Law literature...McNamara's discussion confronts difficult issues of moral diversity and goes some considerable way towards producing a statement of law which is theoretically more coherent than what has gone before" - Elspeth Reid, Edinburgh Law Review

"...an ambitious and interesting book which makes some very valuable and original points [The book] not only revises [Robert] Post's classic exposition; it also introduces the idea of 'moral taxonomies'" - Professor Paul Mitchell Common Law World Review

"...a considerable contribution to the scholarship of defamation law..." - Professor Laurence Lustgarten, Media & Arts Law Review

"...[an] excellent opus" - Eric Deerschemaker, Law Quarterly Review

"The book will be an invaluable source for students looking at defamation law. The author does an excellent job of guiding through the twists and turns of precedents . Certainly a very thought-provoking discussion" - Howard Johnson, Communications Law

"McNamara has produced a stimulating and valuable contribution to the literature." - European Tort Law

"...an important and elegantly-argued addition to the Common Law literature...McNamara's discussion confronts difficult issues of moral diversity and goes some considerable way towards producing a statement of law which is theortetically more coherent than what has gone before" - Elspeth Reid, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Law Review 14.1

"Reputation and Defamation was shortlisted for the society of Legal Scholars" - Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship

"McNamara's discussion confronts difficult issues of moral diversity and goes some considerable way towards producing a statement of law which is theoretically more coherant than what has gone before."