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Last Updated: 1 December 2016
AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW RESPECTING DEFAMATORY WORDS AND LIBEL
[DEF 12] 12 Unintentional defamation
12
- (a)if the offer is accepted by the party aggrieved and is duly performed, no proceedings for defamation shall be taken or continued by that party against the person making the offer in respect of the publication in question (but without prejudice to any cause of action against any other person jointly responsible for that publication);
- (b)if the offer is not accepted by the party aggrieved, then, except as otherwise provided by this section, it shall be a defence, in any proceedings by him or her for defamation against the person making the offer in respect of the publication in question, to prove that the words complained of were published by the defendant innocently in relation to the plaintiff and that the offer was made as soon as practicable after the defendant received notice that they were or might be defamatory of the plaintiff, and has not been withdrawn.
(2) An offer of amends under this section must be expressed to be made for the purposes of this section, and shall be accompanied by an affidavit specifying the facts relied upon by the person making it to show that the words in question were published by him or her innocently in relation to the party aggrieved; and for the purposes of a defence under subsection (1)(b) no evidence, other than evidence of facts specified in the affidavit, shall be admissible on behalf of that person to prove that the words were so published.
(3) An offer of amends under this section shall be understood to mean an offer—
- (a)in any case, to publish or join in the publication of a suitable correction of the words complained of, and a sufficient apology to the party aggrieved in respect of those words;
- (b)where copies of a document or record containing the said words have been distributed by or with the knowledge of the person making the offer, to take such steps as are reasonably practicable on his or her part for notifying persons to whom copies have been so distributed that the words are alleged to be defamatory of the party aggrieved.
(4) Where an offer of amends under this section is accepted by the party aggrieved—
and if no such proceedings as aforesaid are taken, the High Court may, upon application made by the party aggrieved, make any such order for the payment of such costs and expenses as aforesaid as could be made in such proceedings.- (a)any question as to the steps to be taken in fulfilment of the offer as so accepted shall, in default of agreement between the parties, be referred to and determined by the High Court, whose decision thereon shall be final;
- (b)the power of the High Court to make orders as to costs in proceedings by the party aggrieved against the person making the offer in respect of the publication in question, or in proceedings in respect of the offer under paragraph (a), shall include power to order the payment by the person making the offer to the party aggrieved of costs on an indemnity basis and any expenses reasonably incurred or to be incurred by that party in consequence of the publication in question;
(5) For the purposes of this section, words shall be treated as published by one person (in this subsection referred to as the publisher) innocently in relation to another person if, and only if, the following conditions are satisfied, that is to say—
- (a)that the publisher did not intend to publish them of and concerning that other person, and did not know of circumstances by virtue of which they might be understood to refer to him or her; or
- (b)that the words were not defamatory on the face of them, and the publisher did not know of circumstances by virtue of which they might be understood to be defamatory of that other person, and in either case that the publisher exercised all reasonable care in relation to the publication; and any reference in this subsection to the publisher shall be construed as including a reference to any servant or agent of his or hers who was concerned with the contents of the publication.
(6) Subsection (1)(b) shall not apply in relation to the publication by any person of words of which he or she is not the author unless he or she proves that the words were written by the author without malice.