THE DEAD HAND OF ENGLISH LIBEL LAW

Mr Cameron is right to be addressing the extradition arrangements between the UK and US. The process is wholly skewed against UK citizens, there is no way, rightly, in which American nationals would agree to subject themselves to such a distorted and one sided process.
President Obama for his part should raise with Mr Cameron the English libel laws, which make grandiose extra territorial claims for themselves, creating the phenomenon of libel tourism, extending to the rich, powerful, corrupt and criminal the power to suffocate scrutiny, stifle debate and silence criticism. It is no exaggeration to say that English judges making judgements in English libel and privacy cases represent one of the greatest threats to free speech in the democratic world.*

http://www.libelreform.org/

http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/keep-libel-laws-out-of-science.html

* See, You Can't Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom.


Nick Cohen January 2012








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