Criminal libel is a legal term, ofEnglish origin, which may be used with one of two distinct meanings, in thosecommon law jurisdictions where it is still used.
It is an alternative name for thecommon law offence which is also known (in order to distinguish it from other offences of libel) as "defamatory libel"[1] or, occasionally, as "criminal defamatory libel".[2][3]
It is also used as a collective term for all offences which consist of the publication of some prohibited matter in alibel (in permanent form), namelydefamatory libel,seditious libel,blasphemous libel andobscene libel.[4][5]
The common law offences of seditious libel, defamatory libel, and obscene libel were abolished inEngland and Wales andNorthern Ireland on 12 January 2010 when section 73 of theCoroners and Justice Act 2009 came into force,[6] blasphemous libel having already been abolished in England and Wales on 8 July 2008 by theCriminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. TheRacial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 created instead the offence of inciting hatred against a person on the grounds of their race or religion.
Samoa's Crimes Act 2013 dropped reference to criminal libel, which had been on the statute books as part of the Crimes Act 1961.[7][8]
Part of thecommon law series | ||
| Classes of crimes |  | |
| Inchoate offences | ||
| Defences | ||
| Offences against the person or state | ||
| Sexual offences | ||
| Criminal libel and kindred offences | ||
| Offences against property | ||
| Forgery, personation and cheating | ||
| Offences against justice | ||
| Death against family honour | ||
| Criminal behaviour |
| |
| ||
| Thislegal term article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
