These verdicts will rule whether McDonald's have actually proven that each of the 16 specific criticisms are untrue and that Steel and Morris knew them to be untrue. In addition to these 32 separate libel verdicts, the court will rule on whether McDonald's have proven that Morris and Steel were involved in the publication and distribution of the 1984 factsheet. Modern English libel law originated at the end of the eighteenth century in the determination of the government to stifle the freedom of those who wished to argue the issues raised by the French Revolution. Libel law, along with sedition, was the legal mechanism used to suppress dissent. Its most important features have remained unchanged since the early nineteenth century.
Liability is absolute.
It makes no difference that those involved in communicating a libellous statement have acted in perfect good faith, have no intention of doing harm, or even lack any knowledge whatsoever of what is being communicated. - so that printers and distributors of a document are found liable even if they have no knowledge of its content. But good reputation is always presumed and the defendant is not allowed to call evidence to the contrary. The judge had to determine if the words complained of by McDonald's were fact or comment. Under that Convention, as under United States law , public figures cannot use the law to suppress honest criticism. That's why McDonald's brought this case in England.