Русско-англо-русский юридический словарь

There is a non-contractual obligation where a person who is responsible for loss sustained by another person is required to compensate the victim, in cases not linked to the performance of a contract, such as traffic accidents, environmental damage or defamation. (ec.europa.eu)

Defamation���also calumny, vilification, and traducement—is the communication of a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual person, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation. Under common law, to constitute defamation, a claim must generally be false and must have been made to someone other than the person defamed. Some common law jurisdictions also distinguish between spoken defamation, called slander, and defamation in other media such as printed words or images, called libel. (Wikipedia)

The common law origins of defamation lie in the torts of "slander" (harmful statement in a transient form, especially speech) and "libel", each of which gives a common law right of action. Defamation is the general term used internationally, and is used in this article where it is not necessary to distinguish between "slander" and "libel". Libel and slander both require publication. The fundamental distinction between libel and slander lies solely in the form in which the defamatory matter is published. If the offending material is published in some fleeting form, as by spoken words or sounds, sign language, gestures or the like, then it is slander. (Wikipedia)

Libel is defined as defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures. (Wikipedia)