By Karl de Costa

Maligning the memory of the deceased has been viewed as a reprehensible act since antiquity. The Latin aphorism “de mortuis nihil nisi bonum” – roughly translated as “speak nothing but good of the dead” – has been traced back to as early as 300 A.D.

Nevertheless, under current California law, a deceased person’s reputation cannot be injured, and thus no legal cause of action exists for “defamation of the dead.” Dead men may tell no tales; Continue reading “Speaking Ill of the Dead”