Cyber Defamation Claims in the United Kingdom’s and Germany’s Private International Law

Abstract

In the realm of conflict of laws, the willingness of a state to apply foreign law in cross-border cases singularly relies on the principle of comity of nations. This principle is scrutinized in no area of private international law as much as in the field of violations of personality rights. Due to the delicate nature of freedom of speech and its various embodiments throughout the world, the imitless application of foreign law and subsequently standards of freedom of speech entails the risk of undermining the latter at the forum. More than that, lobbying media interest groups have had their fair share on current (non-)legislature. Virtual communication and online publications turn out to bring their own characteristics with them who challenge the traditional conflict of laws’ approach on tort. While many other legal matters have been harmonized both regionally or internationally by the allocation of common private international law rules, the matter of what law is to be applied on defamation is ultimately left to domestic private international law. Regarding jurisdictional grounds, the United Kingdoms' pending exit of the European Union will most likely bring substantial changes to cross-border cases where the defendant is domiciled in the United Kingdom or a European Union member state. In this article, it shall be argued to pursue an objective and aligned approach regarding the determination of the loci delicti in both jurisdictional matters and applicable law.