Unusually for him, Nick Cohen recently published a piece suggesting widening the legal system to deal with attacks on peoples reputations. His idea is for a court akin to the Small Claims Court where people without access to the resources currently associated with libel actions could pursue claims. At first sight such a suggestion might imply a good time for the current libel practitioners, but I can envisage a situation where (if successful) they found themselves undercut.
It also seems likely that it would lead to an explosion of cases, which if there is pent up demand, might not be a bad thing as it might widen peoples' access to justice.
Finally, it might help the current culture of assumed impunity where people repeat allegations that they make no real effort to check, because they think they will not be held to account for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment