0 the action of damaging the reputation of a person or group by saying or writing bad things about them that are not true: --
1 the act of harming someone's reputation by saying or writing bad things about them: --
Scottish law, by contrast, did not require evidence of any particular harm caused by the defamation.
Naturally, in the hands of detractors, his system of magic was fashioned into an instrument of defamation.
There are also patriarchy, defamation suits in the church courts (plus a little on the courts' marital jurisdiction), religious communities and the poor.
This means that the defamations can be placed into distinct categories, and subdivided by gender.
The fact that a defamation case was raised by someone accused of theft did not make them innocent.
Men, women, and couples were equally likely to have been accused of such things and to have responded by raising a legal action for defamation.
But the main courts with jurisdiction over defamation cases were local commissary courts.
However, the evidence suggests that defamation dominated actions for injury throughout the period under consideration.
