That wouldn’t play. Truth is a complete defense for libel and all your lawyer has to do is point out the ordinary meaning of the word rape encompasses the plaintiff’s crime.
If people could get successfully sued for speaking English instead of Legalese in an ordinary context then we’d all have been sued by now.
all your lawyer has to do is point out the ordinary meaning of the word rape encompasses the plaintiff’s crime.
You can’t use ordinary meanings in the court of law… that’s the entire issue and why it’s a thing. You say ordinary, and than use the word crime. Now you need to use the legal definition instead of ordinary. You shot your own foot in that situation.
That’s not how libel works though. The legal meaning of words doesn’t bind publishers of newspapers to use only that meaning, for example.
If you argue that a woman is a rapist in UK court, that won’t work.
If you argue that your usage of the word rapist to describe a woman convicted of penatrative non consensual sexual contact is accurate, all you need to do is point to the dictionary, because the libel case isn’t about the sexual offense, but the plain words used.
I’m not sure you’d get sued for libel. Legally speaking, any non-penis penatrative sexual assault wouldn’t be rape even if you would call it that in other contexts.
Where I live, rape isn’t actually in the criminal code at all. There is only “criminal sexual misconduct, first degree”, which also includes other terrible things that people can do to each other.
No one gets sued for libel for using the dictionary definition of the word rather than the legal definition outside of a courtroom.
You still can’t just say a women raped a man though, you would get sued for libel.
It still creates a divide that puts one in a worse light, even though there is an “equivalent” crime.
@schmidtster
That wouldn’t play. Truth is a complete defense for libel and all your lawyer has to do is point out the ordinary meaning of the word rape encompasses the plaintiff’s crime.
If people could get successfully sued for speaking English instead of Legalese in an ordinary context then we’d all have been sued by now.
You can’t use ordinary meanings in the court of law… that’s the entire issue and why it’s a thing. You say ordinary, and than use the word crime. Now you need to use the legal definition instead of ordinary. You shot your own foot in that situation.
That’s not how libel works though. The legal meaning of words doesn’t bind publishers of newspapers to use only that meaning, for example.
If you argue that a woman is a rapist in UK court, that won’t work.
If you argue that your usage of the word rapist to describe a woman convicted of penatrative non consensual sexual contact is accurate, all you need to do is point to the dictionary, because the libel case isn’t about the sexual offense, but the plain words used.
@schmidtster I don’t think you’re understanding libel law.
You can’t take someone to court just for using a common dictionary word to mean the thing it is commonly used to mean.
I mean you can but you just won’t win.
I’m not sure you’d get sued for libel. Legally speaking, any non-penis penatrative sexual assault wouldn’t be rape even if you would call it that in other contexts.
Where I live, rape isn’t actually in the criminal code at all. There is only “criminal sexual misconduct, first degree”, which also includes other terrible things that people can do to each other.
No one gets sued for libel for using the dictionary definition of the word rather than the legal definition outside of a courtroom.