For the what it is worth department, slander and libel have come to be
combined under the general legal term "defamation".
It is often defined as a communication to third parties of false statements
about a person that injure the reputation of, or deter others from
associating with, that person
Actual malice is only required when the defamatory statement is published
about a public person (celebrity, politician, etc.).
A private person can be defamed negligently.
Proof of damages is an additional hurdle.
Bet y'all couldn't have slept this weekend without that bit of info....
Jay Willingham
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jul 26 2002 - 14:07:56 EDT