Seditious libel is a common law criminal offense of publishing written material intended to bring a government or political authority into contempt or hatred. The offense survives in Canada but has been abolished as a distinct crime in England and Wales, though other statutes there still punish comparable conduct. The legal historian Leonard W. Levy described the charge as accordion-like, since courts could expand or narrow what counted as seditious depending on the case. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Classification
Offense GradeMinor or Summary Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. Seditious libel (Wikipedia)
lead paragraph, Wikipedia REST summary extract for Seditious libelQuote, lead paragraph, Wikipedia REST summary extract for Seditious libel
Seditious libel is a criminal offence under common law of printing written material with seditious purpose, that is, the purpose of bringing contempt upon a political authority. It is still an offence in Canada but has been abolished in England and Wales, although similar provisions continue to exist under different wording in other statutes.
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