What is the test for malice in a defamation action?

Alberta, Canada


The following excerpt is from German v. Major, 1985 ABCA 176 (CanLII):

One further lesson from this analysis is that German’s suit, while nominally dealing with malice, actually seeks to re-try issues of fact already decided against him. In order to succeed. German would be required to have a judge find that the two judges in his criminal case were mistaken in finding a prima facie case against him. He should not be permitted to do that; he seeks to abuse the process by trying to re-litigate that issue. See Grandview v. Doering 1975 CanLII 16 (SCC), [1976] 1 W.W.R. 388 (S.C.C.).

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