Right to trial by jury in defamation cases

• Published date: 16 August 2023
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

The immediate consequences of abolition are, firstly, that the parties to the proceedings would be stripped of their right to choose the mode of trial by which the case is to be decided, whether by a judge alone or by judge and jury and, secondly, the need for a jury being dispensed with the public would be removed from involvement in the administration of justice, consequences which are inherently undemocratic. Jury trial is a quintessential expression of our democracy and as such inevitably calls into question the motives of those who seek to abolish it as the method by which court proceedings are to be decided

The assertion that retaining jury trial in defamation cases is an “anachronism” when most civil cases are tried by a judge alone is disingenuous. Many civil causes of action, such as actions for breach of contract, recovery of debt, recovery of land and claims in chancery, to name some, do not carry the right to trial by jury. However, when the tort of defamation is placed in the classification of actions where it belongs, that of civil wrongs, an entirely different picture emerges.

All High Court actions for civil wrongs recognised by law at independence, including defamation, carry an...