United Kingdom meaningserious harmpreliminary issue

Haviland v Andrew Lownie Literary Agency Ltd

[2021] EWHC 143 (QB)

JurisdictionUnited Kingdom

CourtHigh Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division, Media and Communications List)

Year2021

StatusBinding authority

Key Principle

On a trial of preliminary issues in libel the court determines the natural and ordinary meaning of the words complained of by reference to the hypothetical reasonable reader and whether that meaning is defamatory at common law, leaving the statutory serious-harm threshold under section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013 to be resolved separately.

Area of Law

General

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