What is the test for defamatory content?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from Canadian National Railway Company v. Google Inc., 2010 ONSC 3121 (CanLII):

The first question to be answered, in applying the test, is whether the words complained of are defamatory. "A publication which tends to lower a person in the estimation of right thinking members of society, or to expose a person to hatred, contempt or ridicule, is defamatory and will attract liability" (see: Botiuk v. Toronto Free Press Publicatons Limited, 1995 CanLII 60 (SCC), [1995] 3 S. C. R. 3 at para. 62, as quoted in Henderson v. Pearlman, supra, at para. 39).

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