Defamation case law in Hong Kong: A corpus-based study

Semiotica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (208) ◽  
pp. 203-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Cheng ◽  
Winnie Cheng ◽  
Jian Li
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Legal Study ◽  
Natural Approach ◽  
Defamation Law ◽  
Threshold Problem

AbstractDefamation law is a long-standing research focus. Previous studies on defamation law have pointed out the importance of balancing two fundamental issues in law, namely, protection of reputation and freedom of speech. The present corpus-based legal study, using ConcGram 1.0 as the analytical tool, examined the phraseological profile of reported cases on defamation in Hong Kong in order to find out the types of defense and the approach to meaning in the defamation case law in Hong Kong. Regarding defenses to a defamation claim, the results show that fair comment, qualified privilege, and justification are the most prevalent types, that unintentional defamation is not used at all, and that there has been a noticeable shift from fair comment to honest comment. As for the approach to meaning, the ordinary and natural approach is found to be a pivotal means of solving the threshold problem in defamation cases, that is, whether the words involved are defamatory or not.

Defamation Law in Turbulence: Does Israel Need ‘Libel Reform’?

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-134
Author(s):  
Tamar Gidron
Keyword(s):  
Free Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Judicial Discretion ◽  
Massive Change ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Defamation Law ◽  
Over Time

Among the various bills proposing amendments to Israel's Defamation (Prohibition) Law that were presented to the 18th Knesset, the most controversial one is the bill proposing an increase in the caps on statutory damages (without proof of special or general damage). The current NIS 50,000 cap (NIS 100,000 when the publication was intended to cause injury) will be replaced, if the bill is approved, by a NIS 300,000 cap (NIS 600,000 when the publication was intended to cause injury). This proposed massive change has ignited a heated public debate. The bill, according to its proponents, is targeted principally at the media. Its aim is deterrence and even punishment, accomplished by attaching a higher price tag to libellous publications while focusing on remedies and leaving liability tests (including defences) untouched.I claim that this bill is both unnecessary and detrimental.Based on case law from the eight-year period 2004–11 on damages awarded by Israeli courts in defamation cases – both damages awarded ‘without proof of damage’ (the plaintiff does not need to prove damage caused by the publication) and damages awarded for ‘general damage’ (some general damage needs to be proved) – I conclude that the spectrum of judicial discretion is sufficiently broad to accommodate any level of deterrence seen fit by the courts in any circumstances. The fact that average damages awards do not reach the statutory caps indicates that, for all practical purposes, legislative intrusion in the manner proposed is erroneous. As to the normative standards the bill strives to convey, I maintain that absent reasonable justifications based on identifiable changes in cultural, social or other circumstances over time, the attempt to change the currently accepted balance between the rights of reputation and freedom of speech in Israeli defamation law in terms of damages awards is also erroneous.Even if some modification of the current balance between reputation and free speech, as a result of specified changes in circumstances, do indeed appear to be necessary, the particular content, form and measure of this specific bill – which have yet to be examined and assessed – do not seem to provide the right approach to achieve such modifications.

PLACE OF JUDICIAL PRECEDENT IN THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Globus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Sharifovna Kiyan ◽  
Viktoriya Valerevna Klimentenko
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Legal Study ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Russian Federation

This article discusses a comprehensive theoretical and legal study of the place of case law in the system of sources of law of the Russian Federation. The major focus is devoted to the analysis of various theoretical approaches and court acts that allow to determine the role of case law in the Russian legal system. The conclusion is made that it is necessary to define legally the role of case law and determine its place in the Russian legal system

Allegro without Vivaldi: Trademark Protection, Freedom of Speech, and Constitutional Balancing

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-492
Author(s):  
Wojciech Sadurski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
Categorical Approach ◽  
Trademark Protection

Allegro – Trademark protection – Freedom of speech vs. intellectual property – Polish Constitution – European Convention on Human Rights – Balancing of competing values – Constitutionally permissible limits on freedom of expression – Comparison with case-law of United States Supreme Court – ‘Categorical’ approach vs. ‘balancing’ approach

Telling the Truth, Laughing

1999 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justice Tony Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Social Values ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Defamation Law

This paper centres on three themes: the lack of a constitutional bill of rights in Australia, especially a right to freedom of speech; the suitability of the judiciary to arbitrate social values; and the importance of public humour, and its relations to Australian defamation law. These themes are illustrated by a discussion of the Queensland Court of Appeal's recent finding that Ms Pauline Hanson was defamed on the ABC by Ms Pauline Pantsdown.

scholarly journals Insolvency judges meet strategic behaviour: A comparative empirical study

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-177
Author(s):  
Gijs van Dijck ◽  
Ruben Hollemans ◽  
Monika Maśnicka ◽  
Catarina Frade ◽  
Lorenzo Benedetti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Legal Study ◽  
Strategic Behaviour ◽  
Case Allocation ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness

This article reports the results of a comparative empirical legal study that analyzed (1) strategic behaviour by actors in insolvencies that is salient to insolvency judges and (2) how insolvency judges respond to such behaviour. After examining four different European countries, namely Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal, the study reveals how differences regarding case allocation, judge – insolvency practitioner (IP) interaction, and remuneration and case financing can result in strategic behaviour on both the side of the judges and the IPs. From this, it follows that improving the efficiency and effectiveness is not merely a matter of implementing legislation and case law, but that it also requires a look into the dynamics between insolvency judges, IPs, and other actors in the insolvency process.

Profiling verb complementation constructions across New Englishes

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra C. Deshors ◽  
Stefan Th. Gries
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Observational Data ◽  
Random Forests ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
American English ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Matrix Verb

In this paper, we explore verb complementation patterns with to and ing in native English (British and American English) as compared to three Asian Englishes (Hong Kong, Indian, and Singaporean English). Based on data from the International Corpus of English annotated for variables describing the matrix verb and the complement, we run two random forests analyses to determine where the Asian Englishes have developed complementation preferences different from the two native speaker varieties. We find not only a variety of differences between the Asian and the native Englishes, but also that the Asian Englishes are more similar (i.e. ‘better predicted by’) the American English data. Further, as the first study of its kind to extend the MuPDAR approach from the now frequent regression analyses to random forests analysis, this study adds a potentially useful analytical tool to the often messy and skewed observational data corpus linguists need to deal with.

The space for strategic manoeuvring in adjudicating a freedom of speech case in the Netherlands

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrike Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Case Law ◽  
District Court ◽  
Activity Type ◽  
Strategic Manoeuvring ◽  
Public Prosecution ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The Public ◽  
Court Of Appeal ◽  
Do So

Abstract In this article it is shown that the institutional preconditions of the activity type adjudicating a freedom of speech case leave much room for strategic manoeuvring with topical selection. To this end, an analysis is presented of the argumentation of the District Court in a case against the Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders. In order to show the space for manoeuvring, this argumentation, resulting in acquittal, is compared with the argumentation put forward by the Court of Appeal, which had ordered, after the Public Prosecution Service’s refusal to do so, that Wilders be prosecuted. The analysis shows that the District Court made ample use of the space for manoeuvring provided at the normative level concerning the interpretation of legal rules and case law, and the space provided at the factual level of classifying the contested facts in light of the previously identified meaning of a rule.

Where to go: the floating arbitration agreement

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-194
Author(s):  
Morten Frank
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Commercial Arbitration ◽  
Procedural Rule ◽  
Floating Element

Abstract The article examines questions concerning interpretation of commercial arbitration agreements, according to which the place of arbitration is ‘floating’ and hence cannot be finally determined at the time of contracting. The question is, primarily, whether this inherent uncertainty about material procedural rules ‘infects’ the jurisdictional allocation to such an extent that the arbitration agreement must be considered unenforceable and secondarily, whether the floating element in itself constitutes a sufficiently specific procedural rule. Against the background of an analysis of case law from USA, England, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and drawing on experiences from unilateral and bilateral option agreements, the article extracts general principles of interpretation as well as provides specific guidance on the drafting of floating arbitration agreements.

Cyberlibel Cases before the European Court of Human Rights: Estimating Possible Outcomes

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Dragos Cucereanu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Member States ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Law ◽  
Defamation Law ◽  
The Way

Internet defamation, or cyberlibel, has become an increasingly widespread and alarming side of online expression. This has lead to controversies concerning the way of responding to this new challenge in defamation law. Such controversies persist, as law makers and courts in the Council of Europe Member States vary in their solutions. The author searches for uniformity in regulating cyberlibel in Europe, by estimating how the European Court of Human Rights could decide such cases, based on analogy with its previous case law, as well as the law and practice of those States that have addressed the issue. It concludes that the Court may take into consideration the specificity of Internet, while mostly in line with its previous case law, by further developing it. The article proposes a list of criteria that might help deciding cyberlibel cases, and analyses specific ways of determining their applicability and effect.

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