State has unused criminal libel law

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:11:14 -0500

Mountain Xpress notes that libel is a criminal offense.

According to the alternative weekly based in Western North Carolina, the state has had a criminal libel law on the books for over a century:

The statute, which has been on the books in some form since 1901, states: "If any person shall state, deliver or transmit by any means whatever, to the manager, editor, publisher or reporter of any newspaper or periodical for publication therein any false and libelous statement concerning any person or corporation, and thereby secure the publication of the same, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."

The weekly quotes a media law guide that says that only a handful of states have criminal statutes for libel and prosecutions are rare. In the United States, libel has historically been treated as a civil offense.

State Sen. Steve Goss said the inclusion of criminal penalties in a bill targeting libel on blogs was "an oversight."

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State has unused criminal libel law