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Procedural control and the proper balance between public and private interests in defamation claims

Hyde, Richard

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Abstract

Claims in defamation involve courts in balancing of a number of interests. The Claimant’s interest in their reputation must be balanced with the Defendant’s interest in free expression. The Court’s interest in fair, efficient and proportionate adjudication must be balanced against the Claimant’s interest in vindicating their reputation. Much of the literature examining this balance has focused on the substantive law. This article seeks to consider how these interests have been balanced through procedural control mechanisms, such as summary judgment and strike out. In particular, the development of the court’s ability to strike out a claim as an abuse of process is been considered. It is argued that the ability to strike out in such cases performs an important role, but should not be used to prevent reputational vindication where this is worthwhile. Further, it is argued that whilst substantive and procedural changes may reduce the need for strike out, the courts should not remove this important tool from their toolbox.

Citation

Hyde, R. (2014). Procedural control and the proper balance between public and private interests in defamation claims. Journal of Media Law, 6(1), https://doi.org/10.5235/17577632.6.1.47

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 1, 2014
Online Publication Date May 7, 2015
Publication Date Jul 1, 2014
Deposit Date Jul 7, 2016
Publicly Available Date Jul 7, 2016
Journal Journal of Media Law
Print ISSN 1757-7632
Electronic ISSN 1757-7640
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 6
Issue 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.5235/17577632.6.1.47
Keywords Defamation; Strike Out; Case management; Procedure; Proportionality; Reputation; Expression
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/729633
Publisher URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.5235/17577632.6.1.47
Additional Information The Version of Record of this manuscript has been published and is available in Journal of Media law (2014) http://www.tandfonline.com/10.5235/17577632.6.1.47
Contract Date Jul 7, 2016

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