Defamation Act 2013 : Chapter 26

This Act reforms aspects of the law of defamation. The civil law on defamation has developed through the common law over a number of years, periodically being supplemented by statute, most recently the Defamation Act 1952 ("the 1952 Act") and the Defamation Act 1996 ("the 1996 Act").

The Draft Defamation Bill (Cm 8020, ISBN 9780101802024) was published for full public consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny on 15 March 2011 and closed on 10 June 2011.

In addition to the Government consultation, pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill was undertaken by a Parliamentary Joint Committee.

The committee's final report was published on 19 October 2011 (The Joint Committee on the Draft Defamation Bill Report Session 2010-2012, HL 203, HC 930-I). (ISBN 9780108473814). The Government response to the Joint Committee's report was published in February 2012 (The Government's Response to the Report of the Joint Committee on the Draft Defamation Bill Cm 8295, 9780101829526) and set out the Government's conclusions including on certain matters raised in the public consultation but not specifically addressed in the Committee's report