Laws of Delict and Defamation
Assignment 02
The police museum organises an exhibition where fax figures of well-known murderers in the history of crime are exhibited. A wax figure of X is accidentally placed among the statues of the murderers although he was not a murderer, but the victim of assault. Will X be able to institute proceedings for defamation against the museum? Discuss fully, but do not refer to possible defences that may be raised.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
3
LAWS OF DELICT AND DEFAMATION
3 - 4
PERSON X
4
CONCLUSION
5
SOURCES CONSULTED
6
INTRODUCTION
Defamation can be defined as the publication of words or behaviour concerning a person that tends to injure the good name of that person, with the intention of injuring that person and without grounds of justification.
LAWS OF DELICT AND DEFAMATION
Defamation operates under the umbrella term delict. Delict may be defined as any behaviour by a person which infringes the rights of another person. It may be viewed as an unlawful and blameworthy act which causes damage to another person’s persona.
Elements of a delict before a court will grant damages are:
Act of conduct: The plaintiff must prove that the defendant made a false representation
Wrongfulness: which he knew to be false
Damage: the plaintiff must have suffered, or be likely to suffer loss
Causality: because of the false representation
Fault: the defendant must have intended to cause the plaintiff such loss
There are different types of delicts, but for this assignment, we will be focusing on defamation. When all 5 elements are present, we are dealing with a delict. In the case of defamation, the type of conduct prohibited is the publication of defamatory material.
The delict of defamation is the unlawful publication, animo iniuriandi, of a defamatory statement concerning the complainant. A statement is defamatory if it has the effect of
The police museum organises an exhibition where fax figures of well-known murderers in the history of crime are exhibited. A wax figure of X is accidentally placed among the statues of the murderers although he was not a murderer, but the victim of assault. Will X be able to institute proceedings for defamation against the museum? Discuss fully, but do not refer to possible defences that may be raised.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
3
LAWS OF DELICT AND DEFAMATION
3 - 4
PERSON X
4
CONCLUSION
5
SOURCES CONSULTED
6
INTRODUCTION
Defamation can be defined as the publication of words or behaviour concerning a person that tends to injure the good name of that person, with the intention of injuring that person and without grounds of justification.
LAWS OF DELICT AND DEFAMATION
Defamation operates under the umbrella term delict. Delict may be defined as any behaviour by a person which infringes the rights of another person. It may be viewed as an unlawful and blameworthy act which causes damage to another person’s persona.
Elements of a delict before a court will grant damages are:
Act of conduct: The plaintiff must prove that the defendant made a false representation
Wrongfulness: which he knew to be false
Damage: the plaintiff must have suffered, or be likely to suffer loss
Causality: because of the false representation
Fault: the defendant must have intended to cause the plaintiff such loss
There are different types of delicts, but for this assignment, we will be focusing on defamation. When all 5 elements are present, we are dealing with a delict. In the case of defamation, the type of conduct prohibited is the publication of defamatory material.
The delict of defamation is the unlawful publication, animo iniuriandi, of a defamatory statement concerning the complainant. A statement is defamatory if it has the effect of