Research On Burder Of Proof In Media Defamation

Burden of proof system is an important litigation. The burden proof of media defamation bases on the common theory, whose distribution must incarnate the balance between the protection of speech freedom and the protection of reputation right.Reviewing media defamation out of territory, there exists"English common law mode","American Constitution mode"and"Continent law mode". As different legal tradition, the continent law and Anglo-American law have a big difference about the burden of proof of media defamation. The continent law regards it as common tort, it has profound theories about burden of proof. While the Anglo-American law has a special defamation act. In the UK, it takes the principle of the slander system in the common law and forms maturity burden of proof system; the case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in 1964, takes the American media defamation into a new step of adjustment of Constitution law, and the American law field also makes an effort to construct a better reasonable burden of proof system besides the tortious law.Compared with them, although our country takes the defamation as a part of the civil law the same as the continent law, the burden of proof system in media defamation in our country is disordered, as the concept and element of media defamation are ambiguous, a warp to the understanding of"truth", the research of the burden of proof system has been neglected for long, and the balance between the protection of freedom of speech and the protection of reputation right has lacked in the whole legal systems. Recently, influenced by the advanced legal system, it has some successful experiences in our trial. Based on the successful experiences, it is necessary to perfect our burden of proof in media defamation.