Duncan and Neill on Defamation and other media and Communications Claims

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Description
Brian Neill died on Christmas Eve 2017, at the age of 94. That sad event brought to an end the long life of a distinguished jurist and a much-loved man. Fortunately, for all who value the continuing health of our democracy, one of Brian Neill's abiding concerns, both as a lawyer and a citizen, was the relationship between, on the one hand, freedom of expression and, on the other, the protection of the individual against false and damaging statements. Hence the first edition of this book, which was written by Colin Duncan QC and Brian Neill (by then also QC) and published in 1978. Colin Duncan died in 1979 and Brian then recruited me as joint editor of the next edition, which was published in 1983.
Both of the original authors had intended to produce a work that would, as they put it, state 'the main principles of the law of defamation in a form that was as concise as possible'. In this they had succeeded admirably, so I was both pleased and flattered to be asked by Brian to help him write the second edition. I had by that time known him for many years and had been led by him on a number of occasions, with the result that I had become acutely conscious of his profound grasp of legal principle, his remarkable clarity of expression and, perhaps above all, the wisdom of his judgement in relation to both the law and the facts of any given case. It was therefore no surprise to me, or anyone else I knew, when, in 1978, he was appointed a Justice of the Queen's Bench Division and then, in 1985, a Lord Justice of Appeal, where he served until his retirement in 1996.
Fortunately for all, however, his devotion to the law of defamation endured long past those dates, with the happy consequence that when, after a gap of nearly 25 years, a third edition of the book was contemplated, he was able and willing to continue as leader of what, by then, had become a team of editors, consisting of Heather Rogers QC, Timothy Atkinson, Aidan Eardley and myself. That edition was followed in 2015 by the fourth, with the same team of editors.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Influence of the European Court of Human Rights
Chapter 3. The Distinction between Libel and Slander
Chapter 4. The Meaning of Defamatory
Chapter 5. The Ascertainment of meaning
Chapter 6. Ingredients of the cause of Action
Chapter 7. Identification
Chapter 8. Publication
Chapter 9. Jurisdiction and choice of Law
Chapter 10. Parties
Chapter 11. Defences : general Introduction
Chapter 12. Truth
Chapter 13. Honest Opinion
Chapter 14. Publication on Matter of Public Interest
Chapter 15. Privilege : the Nature of the Defence
Chapter 16. Absolute Privilege
Chapter 17. Qualified Privilege
Chapter 18. Peer-reviewed Statements in Scientific or Academic Journals
Chapter 19. Malice
Chapter 20. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
Chapter 21. Offer to make Amends
Chapter 22. Defences and Immunity for Secondary Publishers
Chapter 23. Consent and Apology and Payment into Court under Lord Campbell's Act
Chapter 24. Limitation
Chapter 25. Damages
Chapter 26. Injunctions
Chapter 27. Other Remedies
Chapter 28. Misuse of Private Information
Chapter 29. Malicious Falsehood
Chapter 30. Harassment
Chapter 31. Data Protection
Chapter 32. Practice and Procedure
Chapter 33. Appeals
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Author Details
Richard Rampton QC
Heather Rogers QC
Timothy Atkinson
Aidan Eardley