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10 J. Media L. 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/joomaw10 and id is 1 raw text is: 


JOURNAL OF MEDIA LAW
2018, VOL. 10, NO. 1, 1-16
https://doi.org/10.1080/17577632.2018.1446403


Routiedge
Taylor & Francis Group


COMMENT AND ANALYSIS

Why so serious? Lachaux and the threshold of 'serious
harm' in section 1 Defamation Act 2013
Thomas   DC  Bennett
Newcastle Law School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK


ARTICLE HISTORY Received 5 January 2018; Accepted 10 January 2018
KEYWORDS  Defamation; libel; actionable per se; s 1 Defamation Act 2013


Introduction
Is libel actionable per se, or not? That is the question at the heart of the case of
Lachaux  v Independent Print Ltd.' Determining answers  to that question led
first the High Court and then the Court  of Appeal to consider a number  of
related matters that lend both judgments  a rather busy  and, at times, dis-
jointed feel. But at base the question is a relatively simple one concerning
the interpretation of s 1 Defamation Act 2013 and  the state of the common
law pertaining to libel prior to the Act coming into force.
   The  claimant, Bruno  Lachaux, had  brought  a claim in libel against the
defendants in respect of articles published in their newspapers and on their
websites that contained allegations against him that he averred were defama-
tory of him. At the trial of preliminary issues in the claim - primarily the issue
of the meaning of the articles - Warby J found these articles to be defamatory

CONTACT Thomas DC Bennett 0 thomas.bennett@newcastle.ac.uk
iLachaux and AOL (UK) Ltd v Independent Print Ltd and Evening Standard Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1334 (here-
  after 'Lachaux (CA)').
0 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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