Torts Commons^™

The Scope Of Canadian Defamation Injunctions, Hilary Young

Dalhousie Law Journal

Free speech is engaged when courts enjoin defamatory or allegedly defamatory speech on an interlocutory or permanent basis. This paper explores the justifiable scope of defamation injunctions and compares that to what courts do.

The study reveals that Canadian defamation injunctions regularly go far beyond what is justifiable. For example, 16% of defamation injunctions involved orders not to speak about the plaintiff at all, which is overbroad since that includes true and otherwise lawful speech. Other orders prohibit saying disparaging (as opposed to unlawful) things—again overbroad. Orders not to defame may be vague because it is unclear whether, in context, …