Research On Legal Protection Of Public Figures’ Right Of Reputation

In recent years, with the development of mass media, there are more and more casesconcerning the right of reputation of public figures.Public figures’ right of reputation isclosely related to public interest,so there should be some reasonable restrictions inlaws.However,public figure is not involved in existing laws as a legal concept. This paperfocus on how to protect public figures’ right of reputation, based on comparative study andthe summary of legal practice in our country.This paper includes six parts. partⅠrefers to the concept of public figures, giving a briefintroduction of the development of public figures. Part Ⅱ introduces the concept andcharacteristics of right of reputation, and discusses difference between public figures’ right ofreputation and ordinary civil subjects’ right of reputation. PartⅢ deals with the reasonablerestrictions on public figures’ right of reputation,discussing the conflict between protectionfor right of reputation and freedom of speech. PartⅣintroduces the development of publicfigures principle in America, the Reynolds privilege in UK and the system of the right ofreputation in Germany.PartⅤintroduces some legislative and judicial omissions and defectsin our country through some typical cases. The last part dissertates the construction elementand the excuse of pleading in infringement of public figures’ right of reputation and set forththree legislative suggestions on perfecting the protection of public figures’ right of reputation.