Chapter 13 - § 13.1 • INTRODUCTION

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 13.1 • INTRODUCTION Good name in man and woman, dear my Lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls; Who steals my purse steals trash; 'Tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he who filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor, indeed.

William Shakespeare, Othello, act 3, scene 2, line 153.

The notion that one's good name is the most valuable piece of intangible property one can possess is age old. Many years ago, the ecclesiastical courts treated defamation as a sin, and imposed the remedy of penance. Then, in the latter half of the sixteenth century, courts began to recognize what we now know as the common-law tort of defamation. At common law, libel could be both a criminal and civil violation, whereas slander generally was regarded as only a civil violation.¹

The Restatement (Second) of Torts defines defamation as follows: "A communication is defamatory if it tends so to harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 559. In Keohane v. Stewart, the Colorado Supreme Court held that "[a] cause of action for the tort of defamation exists today to protect individuals from those who would inflict an invidious and careless harm." 882 P.2d 1293, 1297 (Colo. 1994). The court noted that "[t]he right of a man to the protection of his own reputation from unjustified invasion and wrongful hurt reflects no more than our basic concept of the essential dignity and worth of every human being—a concept at the root of any decent system of ordered liberty." Id. at 1297-98 (quoting Rosenblatt v. Baer, 383 U.S. 75, 92-93 (1966) (Stewart, J., concurring)). Echoing Shakespeare, the Keohane court observed that "a defamatory statement is an action over which the defamed individual...