Dignity, Honour, and Reputation in Court
Dignity, Honour, and Reputation in Court

Summary/Abstract: Maria Ossowska's analysis of the norms intended to facilitate the defence ofhonour and dignity provides a springboard for an investigation of how thesenorms operate in the courtroom. The review covers cases prosecuted as incidents of hate speech as well as those taken to civil and criminal courts personallyby the victims. The paper outlines how these cases are difficult to resolve, inparticular in an amicable manner. In the framework of symbolic interactionism,the main reason for this difficulty is that every person involved in the disputeapparently has a different definition of the meaning of the events. Emphasis isput on the issue of restorative justice: victims are typically motivated not by adesire to punish the perpetrator but rather by eagerness to shift the shame fromthemselves to the perpetrator and in doing so, to restore the social order.

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