Libel Act 1792

The Libel Act 1792 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. At the urging of the Whig politician Charles James Fox, the Act restored to juries the right to decide what was libel and whether a defendant was guilty, rather than leaving it solely to the judge.
The act itself only applied to criminal trials, but the rules it created have come to be applied in civil trials.
Edmund Burke presented a similar bill in 1771. Charles James Fox opposed it and it was not passed.

Subsequent developments

The whole act was repealed by the part 2 of schedule 23 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, with effect from 12 January 2010; this abolished the criminal libel laws.
The whole act was repealed for Scotland by section 203 of, and paragraph 1 of schedule 7 to, the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, with effect from 28 March 2011.