FOX’S LIBEL ACT

Fox’s Libel Act.Hist. A 1792 statute that gave the jury in a libel prosecution the right of
rendering a guilty or not-guilty verdict on the whole matter in issue. • The jury was no longer
bound to find the defendant guilty if it found that the defendant had in fact published the allegedly
libelous statement. The Act empowered juries to decide whether the defendant’s statement
conformed to the legal standard for libel. [Blacks Law 8th]