The European Court of Human Rights has ordered the British Government to pay £57,000 to two campaigners who were "denied the right to a fair trial" and "freedom of speech" when they libelled McDonalds in Britain's longest running in court trial. As to the rights or wrongs of this particular case, I'm not really concerned. However, it strikes me that as a result of this case, anyone can now libel anyone else with impunity. If the person or company you libel has a deep enough pocket to buy itself a strong defence team, then the libellor (Is there even such a word?) can now be supported by the even deeper pockets of the British Government!!
At least in the past you had to be reasonablly sure of your facts, even this is now no longer required!! The only true victors in this court case will be the lawyers!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment