Green Energy
Amiel Ungar reports that Britain looks like it's changing its laws to get rid of libel tourism:
- Law Reform Is Badly Needed, In Several Places
British MP David Davis has brought up an important subject - the serious need for reformation of Britain's libel laws (Hat tip: Melanie Phillips): As a Parliament, we have failed to defend one of our nation's primary virtues-free speech. We have...
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CALIFORNIA BECOMES SECOND STATE TO PROTECT AMERICANS FROM FOREIGN LIBEL LAWS byMichael Travis The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a law yesterday that will protect American journalist and broadcasters from British and foreign libel...
- Free Speech Under Foreign Assault – By Robert Spencer
from The Last Crusade: By Robert Spencer October 9, 2009 FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE thelastcrusade.org Does the United States Constitution protect the freedom of speech of American citizens, or does it not? In this era of globalization, the answer is becoming...
- Ny's Dreadful Judicial System Refuses To Uphold Ehrenfeld's First Amendment Rights
As Publisher's Weekly says, this is a major disappointment that they should throw away a chance to defend American citizens from libel suits filed in Britain. Here's the New York Sun's report on the turnout. However, as Democracy Project tells,...
- Why "libel Tourism" Is A Serious Matter
Britain may be slowly sinking towards dhimmitude, but that doesn't mean we should allow certain of their unholy practices to determine the future of countries abroad. Case in point: the heroic reporter Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil:...
Green Energy
British law may be changed to prevent libel tourism
Amiel Ungar reports that Britain looks like it's changing its laws to get rid of libel tourism:
Britain is about to change its libel laws. This development rates as world news for a few reasons: Britain will no longer be the favored site for "libel tourism," which will have an impact on publications covering topical issues such as terrorism and those who fund it. Secondly, it demonstrates that when the United States changes its laws to right an injustice, other countries, even those with venerable legal traditions like Britain, have to follow suit.It remains to be seen if other countries around Europe will follow suit to boot, including France, which needs to abolish their own laws favoring the plaintiff in a lawsuit. If Britain does abolish their screwed up law, it'll be welcome alright, but it's just a start, since many other countries have to follow the example too, and eliminate any and all unjust rulings. One way to do this is by forming movements that campaign at their local parliaments for alterations.
Under the current law, one could bring suit against someone who published a book in the United States or an English Internet site, however obscure, for libel. The plaintiff did not have to demonstrate that he had sustained any actual loss. He just had to say that he was likely to do so. British libel laws placed the burden of proof on the defendant rather than on the plaintiff.
The British decision can be viewed as a victory for Doctor Rachel Ehrenfeld, an Israeli-American counterterrorism expert. She published a book entitled Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It, in which she accused Khalid bin Mahfouz, a banker to the Saudi royal family and one of the world's plutocrats. of setting up a banking system to assist Osama bin Laden and using his charitable foundations as a front for terrorist organizations.
[...] A person submitting a libel suit will have to prove, according to Kenneth Clark, the Secretary of Justice, that England and Wales are "clearly the most appropriate place in which to bring an action."
According to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, "We are addressing libel tourism by tightening the rules, so that it is much harder to bring overseas claims to our courts when there is little connection to the UK. If such a link can't be demonstrated our judges will simply turn the case away."
English may eventually be supplanted by Mandarin Chinese, but as of now it is the world's lingua franca and therefore this is far more than a legal nicety. It is a victory for free speech worldwide.
- Law Reform Is Badly Needed, In Several Places
British MP David Davis has brought up an important subject - the serious need for reformation of Britain's libel laws (Hat tip: Melanie Phillips): As a Parliament, we have failed to defend one of our nation's primary virtues-free speech. We have...
-
CALIFORNIA BECOMES SECOND STATE TO PROTECT AMERICANS FROM FOREIGN LIBEL LAWS byMichael Travis The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a law yesterday that will protect American journalist and broadcasters from British and foreign libel...
- Free Speech Under Foreign Assault – By Robert Spencer
from The Last Crusade: By Robert Spencer October 9, 2009 FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE thelastcrusade.org Does the United States Constitution protect the freedom of speech of American citizens, or does it not? In this era of globalization, the answer is becoming...
- Ny's Dreadful Judicial System Refuses To Uphold Ehrenfeld's First Amendment Rights
As Publisher's Weekly says, this is a major disappointment that they should throw away a chance to defend American citizens from libel suits filed in Britain. Here's the New York Sun's report on the turnout. However, as Democracy Project tells,...
- Why "libel Tourism" Is A Serious Matter
Britain may be slowly sinking towards dhimmitude, but that doesn't mean we should allow certain of their unholy practices to determine the future of countries abroad. Case in point: the heroic reporter Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil:...