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Defining the moral community : the "ordinary reasonable person" in defamation law

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/86402

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Title: Defining the moral community : the "ordinary reasonable person" in defamation law
Related: Communications Research Forum (1 - 2 October 2003 : Canberra)
Related: Communications Research Forum 2003
Publisher: Canberra : Australian Government, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
Date: 2006
FoR/RFCD Code(s): 180100 Law
Author/Creator: Baker, Roy
Description: This paper questions popular perceptions of the "ordinary reasonable person", defamation law's measure as to what is defamatory. Developing Robert Post's understanding of defamation law as policing society's "rules of civility" in relation to communications, this paper discusses how different understandings of ordinariness and reasonableness contribute to the law's mapping of the moral community. In particular the paper raises two issues. The first relates to the way in which the law deals with discord within the community of "ordinary reasonable persons". The paper demonstrates the uncertainty as to whether minority viewpoints are relevant in defamation law, a confusion originating in conflicting legal precedents. The second issue explored is the impact on defamation law of the phenomenon known as the "third person effect" and the potential for this to unnecessarily restrict speech. The relevance of both issues to law reform is then explored. The paper presents research-in-progress of the National Defamation Research Project, an unprecedented examination of Australian social attitudes run by the Communications Law Centre at the University of New South Wales.
Description: 12 page(s)
Subject Keyword: 180100 Law
Subject Keyword: defamation law
Subject Keyword: media law
Subject Keyword: journalists and the law
Subject Keyword: journalism and the law
Subject Keyword: free speech
Subject Keyword: social research
Subject Keyword: third person effect
Subject Keyword: third person perception
Subject Keyword: reputation
Resource Type: conference paper
Organisation: Macquarie University. Dept. of Law

Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/86402
Identifier: mq-rm-2006004904
Language: eng
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