slander
In English tort law, defamation in a permanent form (writing, print, pictures, broadcast) is libel and is actionable per se, while defamation in a transient form is slander and is generally actionable only on proof of special damage. Slander is actionable per se in a few cases: imputing a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment, a contagious disease, unchastity of a woman, or unfitness for one's profession or trade.
Indian courts have often declined to insist on special damage for slander, treating both forms alike. In criminal law there is no distinction: Section 356 of the BNS (old s.499 IPC) covers defamation by spoken words, writing, signs or visible representations.
Example
Falsely telling villagers that the shopkeeper was a thief was slander actionable per se, as it imputed a crime.
In Indian law
- Section 356, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (old ss.499–500, Indian Penal Code, 1860)
See also
libel · defamation · innuendo · justification
Read more in the study notes
- Infringement in different works, groundless threats, slander of title and appeals (Law of Copyrights)
- Defamation: libel and slander (Law of Torts)
- Computation of limitation: exclusion of time, fraud, acknowledgment, part-payment and continuing wrongs (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
- Ubi jus ibi remedium and legal damage (Law of Torts)
- Comparative advertising, disparagement and the limits of trade mark rights (Law of Trademarks)
- Remedies for infringement: ex parte orders, damages and criminal sanctions (Law of Trademarks)