Did descendants ever sue?

[liamriordan]

I'm wondering if the descendants of ,for example, Sir William Gull ever protested and/or sued anyone for stating that their ancestor was Jack the Ripper.

[Robert]

Liam, as far as I'm aware the situation in this country (UK) is that a dead person cannot be libelled or slandered. I don't know about other countries.

[Graham]

The libel case involving Peter Wright, a member of the Bath Club, who sued the sons of William Gladstone for libel, was a real cause celebre in the 1920's. Gladstone's sons accused Peter Wright of lying; he sued them for libel; he lost. Wright wrote that Gladstone liked to spend his time with prostitutes. His sons objected. Note that the case was nothing to do with libelling a dead man, i.e. Gladstone; it was to do with living men calling one another liars.

Silly buggers.

Graham

[Graham]

Has something gone wrong with timings on these forums? My last post has somehow inserted itself between two other posts made some time ago.

Huh?

Graham

[liamriordan]

That's interesting. I live in the U.S. and they certainly resort to libel and slander in regards to the deceased. I guess a decent example would be all the stuff said about JFK's past.
I asked my question because I know that if someone accused my great- grandfather of such heinous crimes without proof I'd be more than willing to sue them. Obviously, if the statements made were correct one would most probably remain silent.

[Supe]

Liam,

It is a simple point of law--you can't libel/slander the dead. On the other hand, some--Tony Williams and his book Uncle Jack that points the finger at Sir John Williams--have had no compunction about accusing an ancestor.

Don.

[SteveS]

What is this thread doing here

Hello

This thread has been placed under the A6 murders forum. Yet no one has as yet mentioned anything in connection with that case!

Perhaps someone should have it moved to its correct place.

Thnx
Steve

[liamriordan]

And no one has truly answered my question, Steve

[The Grave Maurice]

You're being unusually thick about this, Liam. You put your question on the wrong thread and it has been answered---twice. Read this and let's move on.

[ianincleveland]

I'm wondering if the descendants of ,for example, Sir William Gull ever protested and/or sued anyone for stating that their ancestor was Jack the Ripper.

Though its extremely unlikely that Gull was JTR as we dont know who was for certain,itd be hard to sue even if the dead were subject to libel laws,as we havent got a definete JTR who was convicted.

You coud say the same about the ancestors of any suspect.nobody was ever convicted and no conclusive proof has been found since to anyones guilt.

[perrymason]

Liam,

It is a simple point of law--you can't libel/slander the dead. On the other hand, some--Tony Williams and his book Uncle Jack that points the finger at Sir John Williams--have had no compunction about accusing an ancestor.

Don.

Im unclear about that issue Don when talking about libel of unrelated historical figures......for example, if someone wrote a book today saying that Elvis was a pedophile, his estate would sue the publishers and the author I would imagine.

sidebar: I believe the family sold all rights to the estate for some 80-100 million dollars a few years back.

Best regards

[kensei]

The question was raised over whether anyone related to Walter Sickert- particularly the Lessore family (his inlaws by his third wife)- might try to sue Patricia Cornwell for slandering Walter by naming him as the Ripper. As far as I know it has not happened. Anyone know differently?

And in a related matter, Cornwell was just in the news this week, apparently having been robbed of millions of dollars by some corrupt investors.

[Graham]

Far as I know the modern descendants of James Maybrick didn't sue Paul Feldman for naming him as the Ripper - in fact they seemed rather pleased about it!

Graham