A Bill for an Act of the Scottish Parliament to amend the law of defamation; replace the common law delicts of verbal injury with delicts of malicious publication; and for connected purposes.
This Scottish Government Bill was introduced by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Humza Yousaf MSP, on 2 December 2019.
- Visit the Scottish Parliament website to view the Bill.
- Read the oral evidence given by John Paul Sheridan, Obligations Law Sub-Committee Convener, at Stage 1.
- Read our briefing issued on 2 November 2020 ahead of the Stage 1 debate on the Bill.
- Ahead of the Stage 2 proceedings we produced an updated briefing and amendments, together with the effects and reasons.
- Ahead of the Stage 3 proceedings we produced a further briefing.
In 2019 the Scottish Government published a consultation exploring aspects of the Scottish Law Commission’s recommendations in their report on defamation and accompanying draft bill, to ensure that any reform to defamation law could be fully tested.
- Read our 2019 consultation response from our Obligations Law Sub-committee.
