The written form of defamation (as opposed to slander, which is spoken) which is a civil tort or wrong. It is an untrue statement about a person that is published and read by a third party and results in an injury to the person’s reputation or standing in the community.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
(verb) – In admiralty practice. To proceed against by filing a libel; to seize tinder admiralty process, at the commencement of a suit. Also to defame or injure a person’s reputation by a published writing.
(noun) – In torts. That which is written or printed, and published, calculated to injure the character of another by bringing him into ridicule, hatred, or contempt. Libel is a false and unprivileged publication by writing, printing, picture, effigy, or other fixed representation to the eye which exposes any person to hatred, contempt ridicule, or obloquy, or which causes him to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him in his occupation. A libel is a false and malicious defamation of another, expressed in print or writing or pictures or signs, tending to injure the reputatlon of an individual, and exposing him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule. The publication of the libelous matter is essential to recovery. Code Ga. 1882,