ABSTRACT

This article argues against the court striking out defamation claims on the basis that they are ‘disproportionate’, that is, they cost more to litigate than they raise in damages. We begin by setting out the so-called problem of disproportionality. Next, we show that the court’s current solution of striking out the claimant’s claim should be rejected in defamation cases. The value of the claim is partly subjective and not purely monetary, such that its true costs and benefits are better reflected in the parties’ willingness to fight the case on its merits rather than the court’s comparison of the money sums involved. In any event, if the court must refuse to hear the case, it should be willing to strike out the defendant’s defence rather than the claimant’s claim in appropriate cases – because it is often hearing the defence, rather than the claim, that causes disproportionate expenditure in defamation cases.

摘要

本文反对法院以“不相称”为由删除诽谤诉讼，即诉讼成本高于赔偿额。我们首先提出所谓的不成比例问题。接下来，我们表明，在诽谤案件中应驳回法院现行的排除原告索赔的解决方案。索赔的价值部分是主观的，而不是纯粹的金钱，因此，其真实的成本和收益更好地体现在当事方根据案情进行诉讼的意愿上，而不是法院比较所涉金额。无论如何，如果法院必须拒绝审理此案，那么它应该愿意在适当的情况下取消被告的辩护，而不是索赔人的要求，因为它通常是在听辩方，而不是要求，