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Article: Liberty of expression in Ireland and the need for a constitutional law of defamation.
- Article from:
- Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
- Article date:
- March 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Vanderbilt University, School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I. INTRODUCTION
In the last several years, Irish courts have awarded ever larger damages to defamation plaintiffs.(1) Because Irish libel law weighs heavily in their favor, these plaintiffs, who are often political figures and other well known public figures,(2) generally prevail in court.(3)
One such plaintiff was Noelle Campbell-Sharp, who won a 1997 judgment against the IRISH INDEPENDENT, a prominent newspaper company.(4) Campbell-Sharp was best known as owner of Irish Tatler magazine, which had recently gone bankrupt,(5) Hugh Leonard, a well-known Irish playwright and columnist, had criticized Campbell-Sharp in her weekly column.(6) Leonard ...