Criminal Defamation
No provisions.
Criminal libel in England and Wales was fully abolished by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
Criminal libel (defamatory and obscene) in Northern Ireland, as in England and Wales, was abolished by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
Defamation is not a criminal offence in Scotland.
Criminal Defamation of Public Officials
No provisions.
Criminal Defamation of the Head of State
No provisions.
Criminal Defamation of the State and its Symbols
No provisions.
Criminal Defamation of Foreign Heads of State
No provisions.
Criminal Defamation of Foreign States and Symbols
No provisions.
Criminal Defamation of the Deceased
No provisions.
Criminal Blasphemy
In England and Wales, the common-law offence of blasphemous libel was repealed by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.
Blasphemous libel remains an offence in Scotland. According to reports, it was last applied in 1843, when a bookseller was sentenced to 15 months in prison .
Despite attempts to include its repeal in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, blasphemous libel also remains an offence in Northern Ireland.
Criminal Statistics
N/A
Criminal Defamation and Media
N/A
Recent Legal Changes
Criminal libel in England and Wales was fully abolished by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
In England and Wales, the common-law offence of blasphemous libel was repealed by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.
Criminal libel (defamatory and obscene) in Northern Ireland, as in England and Wales, was abolished by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
Notes and Acknowledgements
Information for the United Kingdom was originally collected by IPI as part of the “Out of Balance” report, published in January 2015 with support from the European Commission and incorporating research contributed by Center for Media, Data and Society at Central European University in Budapest and by the SHARE Foundation in Belgrade. This entry was later expanded and updated by IPI as part of a study commissioned by the Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
A fully footnoted version of this entry is available in the OSCE study. This entry was last updated in March 2017.
The information contained in this database is for informational and advocacy purposes only. If you are a journalist facing a defamation claim, you should seek legal advice from a qualified attorney. However, if you are unable to find such an attorney, IPI may be able to assist you in doing so. Please contact us at info(at)ipi.media.
