Comparative law notes
In the Brazilian Penal Code, there is a category of so-called offenses against honor (in Portuguese, "crimes contra a honra"), which encompasses three types of offenses: "injúria" (insulting behavior), "calúnia" (criminal defamation by imputing a crime to someone) and "difamação" (criminal defamation, or damaging someone's reputation), each with its own characteristics and requirements (please refer to the respective word cards). Libel is roughly comparable to "difamação" in that both are the act of damaging someone's reputation. However, Brazilian law does not differentiate between publishing or saying bad things about someone. Moreover, while offenses against honor in the Brazilian legal system are crimes, libel is a tort. For all of these reasons, we recommend using the descriptive term "ofensa contra a honra praticada por meio escrito" when translating libel into Portuguese.
