On 3/27/06, David Alexander Russell webmaster@davidarussell.co.uk wrote:
Not relevant, unless the chat room is located in England and Wales. Say (for example) a Wikipedia user in Scotland posting a defamatory (slander and libel are rolled into a single delict [tort] in Scotland - defamation) statement to Wikipedia, whose servers are located in Florida. The England & Wales courts wouldn't have jurisdiction over this. Who WOULD is a question that hasn't really been solved to my knowledge, but it would EITHER be the Scottish courts or the Florida courts - or potentially the pursuer [plaintiff] could have the choice of where to sue, but the England and Wales courts would in either case be out of the equation - regardless of the fact that the defender has assets in England & Wales, the 'wrong' occured either in Scotland or in Florida - unless the posting was to a chatroom in England & Wales but that is not the case with Wikipedia.
Cynical
Probably not. Lewis v king rather kicked that one apart since the court regarded it as being published in England and Wales since it could be accessed from there.
-- geni