1 April 2010
Earlier I wrote about the libel case against author Simon Singh. The British Chiropractic Association sued him for libel when he called chiropractic treatments “bogus” in an article in the Guardian.
Today, the appeals court handed down its decision, vindicating Singh. Language Log has a summary of the decision.
The decision, which also includes a quotation from Milton (!), quotes a decision by the Seventh US Circuit Court of Appeals, Underwager v Salter 22 Fed. 3d 730 (1994), that aptly sums up the conclusion:
[Plaintiffs] cannot, by simply filing suit and crying “character assassination!,” silence those who hold divergent views, no matter how adverse those views may be to plaintiffs’ interests. Scientific controversies must be settled by the methods of science rather than by the methods of litigation. […] More papers, more discussion, better data, and more satisfactory models—not larger awards of damages—mark the path towards superior understanding of the world around us.
