Slander

Slander is an injury to a person's character and reputation caused by spoken words. It is to be noticed that oral unlike written defamation is only actionable (1) on proof of actual, or, as it is technically termed, special damage; (2) in the following specific cases: (a) statement that the plaintiff has committed a criminal offence, (b) an assertion that he is suffering from an unclean and contagious disease, (c) defamatory words spoken in the way of his business or profession. To impute unchastity to a woman was not in itself actionable unless (it is said) the words were spoken in London, when by the custom of the city an action would lie thereon; but the Slander of Women Act (1891) makes the mere imputation a ground of procedure. The remedy for slander is an action at law for damages. To prove the truth of the alleged slander is a complete answer, and the defence of privilege may also be set up. The criminal law affords no protection against slander, nor will any 'indictment lie for mere words not reduced into writing, unless they be seditious, blasphemous, grossly immoral, or uttered to a magistrate in the execution of his office, or uttered as a challenge to fight a duel, or with an intention to provoke the other party to send a challenge.' This radical distinction between written and spoken defamation is not recognised in Scots law. See LIBEL.