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Spry
Great Selkie o' Sule Skerry
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| Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject: What's the law ------ |
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------- on libel or slander relating to dead folk? I've just finished reading a book called "The Leader" and the theme is an imaginary Britain in 1937 when Oswald Mosley has become the top dog. The country is like Nazi Germany with its secret police, concentration camps, persecution of the Jews and so forth. Capital punishment still exists of course but Mosley has decreed that the axe should be used as the method of execution.
And that brings me to my point. He's portrayed in this book as being a right monster, saying appalling things and passing the most evil laws. Because this is all speculation I wonder if Mosley's descendants could successfully sue the author or would the defence be that because he was a fascist it was reasonable to extrapolate his behaviour in this way?
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Nurse_sooz
Telt ye ah could swim!
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| Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I wonder if Mosley's descendants could successfully sue the author or would the defence be that because he was a fascist it was reasonable to extrapolate his behaviour in this way? |
I think both personally...is that weird...
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Anona.Mouse
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| Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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Somebody will shoot me down if I'm wrong no doubt, but I believe you cannot, legally, libel the dead.
However I bet any living relatives who felt that the family name - or even they themselves, by association with the deceased - had been slandered or libelled would be willing to give it a go in the courts, especially if they had a comfortable financial cushion to rest on the while. |
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SueDOnym
Kelpie
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| Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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Ok...putting on my pedantic hat here, but there is no such thing as libel or slander in Scots law, only defamation.
However, putting aside the pedantry for a moment, Anona is correct - you cannot libel the dead, strictly speaking, although under certain circumstances, it is possible that a relative could bring a case for libel if they felt their reputations were being maligned in some way. |
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Wen
Leviathen
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| Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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It sounds like a really interesting idea for a book, Spry.
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Spry
Great Selkie o' Sule Skerry
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| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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So you can't libel the dead, eh, but you could sue if you felt that slagging the deceased in some way tarnished your own reputation. Could be some interesting debates here. Supposing your grandfather was a serial killer and someone wrote a book describing all sorts of gruesome but imaginary details. You wouldn't want folk pointing the finger and saying "see him, he's the grandson of a serial killer ----- better steer clear, it's maybe in the genes!" That would be a reasonable case for suing, don't you think?
In Mosley's case though, he didn't actually do these horrible things (although he might have, given the chance). Nevertheless, he has been accused of having the potential to do them. Could his descendants make an even more justified claim (than the above) that their own character would or could be tarnished by accusations of the inheritance of undesirable traits?
Nae lawyers on the Forum?
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