calumnies

Calumny refers to the act of making false statements about another person with the intention of damaging their reputation. The term comes from the Latin calumnia, meaning a false accusation, and entered English in the medieval period. In common usage, calumny is a form of defamation that emphasizes malicious intent to harm a person’s character.

Calumny is often grouped with slander and libel as forms of defamation. Slander denotes spoken false statements; libel denotes written ones; calumny emphasizes the motive to injure through false accusations, regardless of medium. In legal contexts, defamation may be treated as a civil wrong or a crime, depending on jurisdiction. The precise elements—falsity, publication to a third party, fault or malice, and damages—vary by law.

Common defenses include truth (or substantial truth), opinion, privilege (such as certain communications in legal or legislative contexts), and lack of evidence of malice, particularly when the plaintiff is a public figure. A retraction or apology may mitigate damages in some cases.

Calumny can cause reputational harm, strain personal relationships, and lead to social or economic consequences. Historically, calumny has been addressed in secular law and religious doctrine, where it was condemned as a wrongful act that undermines communal trust.