The Ministry of Justice no longer publishes a separate annual “Judicial Statistics” bulletin but the figures can be now be found in the Royal Courts of Justice Tables [xls] which were published on 2 June 2016. Most (although not all) libel claims are issued in the Royal Courts of Justice.
The 2015 figure is only slightly lower than that for 2013 but is, nevertheless the second lowest since 1992. The 2014 figure was high and appeared to contradict the views of many commentators that the Defamation Act 2013 (which came into force on 1 January 2014) would lead to a further decline in the number of defamation claims. However, the low number of claims issued in 2015 suggest that the 2014 figures may have been a “blip” in a continuing downward trend in the volume of libel litigation in the English Courts. This is illustrated by the “trendline” on the graph of claims since 1992:
There is no separate record of the number of privacy and other claims against the media – they are, presumably included in the 1386 “miscellaneous” claims issued. The Ministry of Justice does now publish statistics on privacy injunctions which now form part of the Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly and are published every 6 months. The most recent edition containing privacy injunction statistics is October-December 2015 [pdf]. We had a post about these statistics when they were published in March 2016.
More details of libel claims can be found in this table of defamation (and other) claims since 1992 – adapted from a table which was originally provided to us by media solicitors RPC.
Year | Claims issued in London (QB) | Defamation Claims Issued in London | % of all London (QB) Claims issued | £15-50k | £>50k | No value stated |
2015 | 4,869 | 135 | 3.00 | 40 | 71 | 54 |
2014 | 5,417 | 227 | 4.00 | 52 | 119 | 56 |
2013 | 5,186 | 142 | 3.00 | 37 | 56 | 49 |
2012 | 5,549 | 186 | 3.00 | 65 | 60 | 61 |
2011 | 4,726 | 165 | 3.49 | 28 | 61 | 76 |
2010 | 4,864 | 158 | 3.24 | 27 | 47 | 84 |
2009 | 5,694 | 298 | 5.23 | 52 | 62 | 184 |
2008 | 5,173 | 259 | 5.00 | 43 | 77 | 139 |
2007 | 4,794 | 233 | 4.86 | 43 | 45 | 145 |
2006 | 4,246 | 213 | 5.02 | 24 | 39 | 150 |
2005 | 3,841 | 252 | 6.56 | 43 | 70 | 139 |
2004 | 4,292 | 267 | 6.22 | 30 | 31 | 206 |
2003 | 3,514 | 190 | 5.41 | 22 | 15 | 153 |
2002 | 4,394 | 128 | 2.91 | 1 | 1 | 126 |
2001 | 5,122 | 220 | 4.30 | |||
2000 | 5,599 | 241 | 4.3 | |||
1999 | 10,317 | 236 | 2.29 | |||
1998 | 21,684 | 379 | 1.75 | |||
1997 | 23,411 | 452 | 1.93 | |||
1996 | 29,834 | 201 | 0.67 | |||
1995 | 31,737 | 560 | 1.76 | |||
1994 | 37,450 | 418 | 1.12 | |||
1993 | 56,567 | 336 | 0.59 | |||
1992 | 83,852 | 337 | 0.4 |