Opinion ID: 1155573
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Virginia Background

Text: In Virginia, as in other states, the law of defamation historically has protected a basic interest. The individual's right to personal security includes his uninterrupted entitlement to enjoyment of his reputation. Fuller v. Edwards, 180 Va. 191, 197, 22 S.E.2d 26, 29 (1942). Society has a pervasive and strong interest in preventing and redressing attacks upon reputation. Rosenblatt v. Baer, 383 U.S. 75, 86, 86 S.Ct. 669, 676, 15 L.Ed.2d 597 (1966). Under the general framework of defamation law in Virginia prior to 1964, the beginning of a period when major aspects of libel law became federalized, the defamed private citizen had to prove only a false publication that included words which were either actionable per se according to certain fixed principles, or, if not defamatory per se, words which resulted in special damages to the party defamed. See M. Rosenberg & Sons v. Craft, 182 Va. 512, 518, 29 S.E.2d 375, 378 (1944). Upon such publication, [1] malice was inferred and damage to reputation was presumed. See Note, Defamation in VirginiaA Merger of Libel and Slander, 47 Va.L.Rev. 1116, 1117 (1961). And, unless the otherwise libelous statement was privileged or the defendant could establish its truth, Rosenberg v. Mason, 157 Va. 215, 228, 160 S.E. 190, 195 (1931), the publisher was liable for compensatory damages. Upon proof of common-law actual or express malice, the plaintiff was entitled to an award of punitive damages. James v. Haymes, 160 Va. 253, 263, 168 S.E. 333, 337 (1933). Commencing in 1964, however, a series of decisions of the United States Supreme Court caused significant changes in the law of libel.