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Absolute Privilege - Law Dictionary Search Results

Home Dictionary Name: absolute privilege

absolute privilege

absolute privilege see privilege ...


absolutely privileged communication

absolutely privileged communication : privileged communication ...


Absolute privilege

Absolute privilege, means a privilege that imunises an actor from suit, no matter how wrongful the action might be, and even though it is done with an improper motive, Black Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1215....


privilege

privilege [Latin privilegium law affecting a specific person, special right, from privus private + leg- lex law] 1 : a right, license, or exemption from duty or liability granted as a special benefit, advantage, or favor: as a : an exemption from liability where an action is deemed to be justifiable (as in the case of self-defense) or because of the requirements of a position or office ;also : the affirmative defense that an action is privileged compare excuse absolute privilege : a privilege that exempts a person from liability esp. for defamation regardless of intent or motive ;specif : a privilege that exempts high public officials (as legislators) from liability for statements made while acting in their official capacity without regard to intent or malice qualified privilege : a privilege esp. in the law of defamation that may be defeated esp. by a showing of actual malice called also conditional privilege b : an exemption from a requirement to disclose information (as fo...


privileged communication

privileged communication 1 : confidential communication 2 a : a defamatory communication that does not expose the party making it to the liability that would follow from it if not privileged called also absolutely privileged communication b : a defamatory statement made by one person to another who is in a confidential relation (as that of a prospective employer) or who has an interest therein that may upon proof of bad faith or actual malice be deprived of its privileged character called also conditionally privileged communication ...


Libel

Libel [fr. libellus, Lat.; libelle, Fr.]. False defamatory words, if written and published, constitute a libel: Odgers on libel, p. 1. 'Everything printed or written, which reflects on the character of another, and is published without lawful justification or excuse, is a libel whatever the intention may have been', O'Brien v. Clement, (1846) 15 M & W 435, per Parke, B. A statement in a talking film is a libel and not merely a slander, Yossopoff v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture Corporation, 78 Sol Jo 617. As to publication by dictation, etc., to a typist, see Osborn v. Boulter & Son, (1930) 2 KB 226. All contumelious matter that tends to degrade a man in the opinion of his neighbours, or to make him ridiculous, will amount (when conveyed in writing, or by picture, effigy, or the like, Monson v. Tussauds, Ltd., (1894)1 QB 671, to libel. A writing of fictitious character which incidentally contains the name of a real person may be a libel: see Jones v. Hulton & Co., 1910 AC 20, where Lord ...


Distress

Distress [fr. distringo, Lat., to bind fast; districtio, Med. Lat., whence distraindre, Fr.], a taking, without legal process, of a personal chattel from the possession of a wrong-doer into the hands of a party grieved, as a pledge for the redressing an injury, the performance of a duty, or the satisfaction of a demand.This remedy may be resorted to by a landlord for recovery of rent in arrear, by a rate collector or tax collector for recovery of rates or taxes, and by justices of the peace for the recovery of fines due on summary convictions.A distress may be made of common right for the rent payable by a tenant to a landlord, technically termed 'rent-service,' and by particular reservation, or under s. 121 of the (English) Law of Property Act, 1925, for rent-charges, and also for rents-seck since the (English) Landlord and Tenant Act, 1730 (4 Geo. 2, c. 28), s. 5, which extended the same remedy to rents-seck, rents of assize, and chief-rents, and thereby in effect abolished all mater...


Press

Press. By the (English) Local Authorities (Admission of the Press to Meetings) Act, 1908 (8 Edw. 7, c. 43), passed inconsequence of the decision in Tenby Corporation v. Mason, (1908) 1 Ch 457, the ex-pression 'representatives of the Press' means duly accredited representatives of newspapers and duly accredited representatives of news agencies which systematically carry on the business of selling and supplying reports and information to newspapers. Though the Act gives a general right of admission, there is power by resolution temporarily to exclude the Press. See LOCAL AUTHORITY.There is no longer any censorship of the Press in this country, and any man may write and publish whatever he pleases concerning another, subject only to this--that he must take the consequences, if a jury should deem his words defamatory (Odgers on Libel, p. 10). 'The liberty of the Press consists in printing without any previous licence, subject to the consequences of law', R. v. Dean of St. Asaph, (1784) 3 T...


Privileged communication

Privileged communication, a communication which a witness cannot be compelled to divulge, such as that which takes place between husband and wife (see the (English) Evidence Amendment Act, 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 83), s. 3, and Criminal Evidence Act, 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 36), s. 1), between a client and his legal adviser, and which cannot be disclosed without the client's consent; secrets of State, etc. See also CONFESSION. Also a communication which cannot be made the ground of an action for defamation, either (a) absolutely, or (b) without a malicious motive, such as that which is made truthfully and bona fide by a master respecting the character of a servant to a person intending to employ him. Incidental publication will not affect the privilege, Edmondson v. Birch, (1907) 1 KB 371; consult Odgers on Libel. See LIBEL....


Official receivers

Official receivers, officers appointed by the Board of Trade under s. 66 of the (English) Bankruptcy Act, 1883, to act as interim receivers and managers of bankrupts' estates, pending the appointment of trustees in bankruptcy: see now Bankruptcy Act, 1914, ss. 70 et seq. The report of an official receiver is absolutely privileged, Bottomley v. Brougham, (1908) 1 KB 584; Burr v. Smith, (1909) 2 KB 306. As to the official receiver becoming provisional liquidator on the making of a winding-uporder, see Companies Act, 1929, s. 185, and LIQUIDATOR...


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