Britain’s Libel Laws: Malice Aforethought

Mihir Bose recalls a classic case highlighting the problems with Britain’s antiquated libel laws.

History Today Volume: 63 Issue: 5 2013

The decision to set up a royal charter to underpin Justice Leveson’s recommendations ovn regulating the press may or may not mean the end of press freedom in this country, 334 years after the expiry of the 1662 Licensing of the Press Act. But the Leveson report has done little to deal with a problem that has done much to discourage good journalism: Britain’s wretched libel laws.

Leveson did not look at the libel laws, arguing that Parliament was already debating a new bill. However he did comment on the cost of libel and proposed a free arbitration service for anyone who feels unfairly treated by the press. It would have the power to impose fines and compensation. That sounds worthy but the problem is the system, as now agreed by Parliament, may result in exactly the opposite of what Leveson intended. As Simon Jenkins has pointed out, it could result in a ’stampede for anyone – including lobbyists – trying to grab a compulsory correction plus a quick payoff ... Fines and compensation at the arbitration stage will put editors in thrall to chief executives and nervous publishers. Worse ensues if editors reject the new regulator and, because a matter of law is at stake, the case goes to a proper court. They there face punitive “million-pound” fines.’