DEFAMATORY
defamatory,adj. (Of a statement or communication) tending to harm a person’s reputation, usu.
by subjecting the person to public contempt, disgrace, or ridicule, or by adversely affecting the
person’s business. [Cases: Libel and Slander 6–14. C.J.S. Libel and Slander; Injurious
Falsehood§§ 2, 5, 10–12, 17–42, 104.]
“A communication is defamatory if it tends so to harm the reputation of another as to lower
him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with
him.” Restatement of Torts § 559 (1938).
“No exhaustive definition of ‘defamatory’ emerges from the cases for, as Lord Reid once said,
it is not for the judges to ‘frame definitions or to lay down hard and fast rules. It is their function
to enunciate principles and much that they say is intended to be illustrative or explanatory and not
to be definitive’ [Cassell & Co. Ltd. v. Broome (1972) AC 1027, 1085]. One can nevertheless
achieve a working description by combining two statements, namely: a defamatory statement is
one which injures the reputation of another by exposing him to hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or
which tends to lower him in the esteem of right-thinking members of society.” R.W.M. Dias & B.S.
Markesinis, Tort Law 423–24 (2d ed. 1989). [Blacks Law 8th]