The aim of this chapter is to assess the impact of the HRA on the law of defamation in the first ten years of its implementation by means of a short survey of cases in which the Convention rights have been relied upon in an effort to challenge established principles of defamation law, or otherwise to develop it beyond its previous state of existence.

Reputation is not an explicit Convention right, though it is an aspect of the rights protected by Article 8. It is also expressly provided in the Convention that the necessity for protecting reputation is capable of justifying interference with the right to freedom of expression under Article 10(2) (restrictions etc., ‘necessary…for the protection of the reputation or rights of others’).