The Defamation Act 1952 (15 & 16 Geo 6 & 1 Eliz 2 c 66) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. This Act implemented recommendations contained in the Report of the Porter Committee. The recommendation made by the Committee in relation to the rule in ''Smith v Streatfield'' was not implemented.

Section 3 - Slander of title, etc

See Malicious falsehood#England and Wales and

Verbal injury Verbal injury is a delict in Scotland. Proof of special damage In any action for verbal injury it is not necessary for the pursuer to aver or prove special damage if the words on which the action is founded are calculated to cause pecuniary damag ...

Section 5 - Justification

:''See English defamation law#Justification'' This section was repealed by the

Defamation Act 2013 The Defamation Act 2013 (c 26) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which reformed English defamation law on issues of the right to freedom of expression and the protection of reputation. It also comprised a response to perception ...

Section 15 - Legislative powers of Parliament of Northern Ireland

This section was repealed by Part I o
Schedule 6
to the

Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received the royal assent on 18 July 1973. The Act abolished the suspended Parliament of Northern Ireland and the post of Governor and made pro ...

. This section extended to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in addition to the other places to which this Act extended. This section provided that no limitation on the powers of the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

imposed by the

Government of Ireland Act 1920 The Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bill ...

precluded that Parliament from making laws for purposes similar to the purposes of this Act. The Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 was made for purposes similar to the purposes of this Act.

Section 18

Section 18(1) provides that the Act came into force at the end of the period of one month that began on the date on which it was passed. The word "months" means

calendar month A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...

s. The day (that is to say, 30 October 1952) on which the Act was passed (that is to say, received royal assent) is included in the period of one month. This means that the Act came into force on 30 November 1952. The words "(except section fifteen)" in section 18(2) were repealed by Part I o
Schedule 6
to the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. This was consequential on the repeal of section 15 by that Part. Section 18(3) repealed sections 4 and 6 of the

Law of Libel Amendment Act 1888 The Law of Libel Amendment Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c.64) was an act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, clarifying and "amplifying" the defence of qualified privilege (and potentially a degree of absolute privilege, though this was no ...

.Copy of the original text of section 18
from

Legislation.gov.uk legislation.gov.uk, formerly known as the UK Statute Law Database, is the official web-accessible database of the statute law of the United Kingdom, hosted by The National Archives. It contains all primary legislation in force since 1267 and a ...

It was repealed by Part XI of the Schedule to the

Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1974 The Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1974 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It implemented recommendations contained in the fifth report on statute law revision, by the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission. It repealed 54 Ac ...

References

Halsbury's Statutes ''Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales'' (commonly referred to as ''Halsbury's Statutes'') provides updated texts of every Public General Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Measure of the Welsh Assembly, or Church of England Measur ...

External links