Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Libel Act 1792

Act of the Parliament of Great Britain From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Libel Act 1792
Remove ads

The Libel Act 1792{[efn|name=st}} (32 Geo. 3. c. 60) (also known as Fox's Act) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. At the urging of the Whig politician Charles James Fox, the Act restored to juries the right to decide what was libel and whether a defendant was guilty, rather than leaving it solely to the judge.

Quick facts Long title, Citation ...

The act itself only applied to criminal trials, but the rules it created have come to be applied in civil trials.[citation needed]

Edmund Burke presented a similar bill in 1771. Charles James Fox opposed it and it was not passed.

Remove ads

Subsequent developments

The whole act was repealed by the part 2 of schedule 23 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, with effect from 12 January 2010; this abolished the criminal libel laws.

The whole act was repealed for Scotland by section 203 of, and paragraph 1 of schedule 7 to, the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, with effect from 28 March 2011[c].

Notes

  1. The citation of this act by this short title was authorised by section 1 of, and the first schedule to, the Short Titles Act 1896. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
  2. Start of session.
  3. The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 (Commencement No. 8, Transitional and Savings Provisions) Order 2011.

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads