Fact, Opinion, and the Human Rights Act 1998: Does English Law Need to Modify its Definition of 'Statements of Opinion' to Ensure Compliance with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights?

Posted: 29 Feb 2008

Abstract

The European Court of Human Rights requires a distinction to be drawn between statements of fact and value-judgments in defamation law, arguing that the former are susceptible of being proved to be true, but the latter are not. Moreover, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights is breached when the only defence available to value-judgments is for the defendant to prove that the statement is true. English law draws a similar distinction between statements of fact and statements of opinion. However, this distinction differs from the distinction between statements of fact and value-judgments. Consequently, situations can arise when English law would categorize a value-judgment as a statement of fact, meaning in the majority of cases that the defendant can only successfully defend the defamation action by proving that his statement is true. In such circumstances, English law breaches Article 10. This article concludes that the best solution to this problem is not for English law to adopt the European Court of Human Rights' distinction between statements of fact and value-judgments, but rather for English law no longer to require a statement to be one of opinion in order to benefit from the defence of fair comment.

Suggested Citation

Young, Alison L., Fact, Opinion, and the Human Rights Act 1998: Does English Law Need to Modify its Definition of 'Statements of Opinion' to Ensure Compliance with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights?. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 89-107, 2000, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=821564

Alison L. Young (Contact Author)

University of Cambridge ( email )

10 West Road
Cambridge, CB3 9DZ
United Kingdom

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
1,102
PlumX Metrics