Disambiguation

 Slander and libel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In admiralty law, a libel was the equivalent of a civil lawsuit. In the United States, about 75% of defamation lawsuits are filed in state courts, and the remaining 25% in federal courts. Zenger’s case also established that libel cases, though they were civil rather than criminal cases, could be heard by a jury, which would have the authority to rule on the allegations and to set the amount of monetary damages awarded.