§ 73.001.Elements of Libel

The statutory definition of libel in Texas, and it is broader than the common law in one respect.

A libel is a defamation expressed in written or other graphic form that:

tends to blacken the memory of the dead; or tends to injure a living person's reputation and thereby expose the person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or financial injury; or tends to impeach any person's honesty, integrity, virtue, or reputation; or tends to publish the natural defects of anyone and thereby expose them to public hatred, ridicule, or financial injury.

"Written or other graphic form" is what makes it libel rather than slander. The definition reaches beyond writing to any graphic expression, which covers images, cartoons, and by ordinary reading, online publication.

The reference to blackening the memory of the dead is a historical feature and does not by itself create a claim for surviving relatives — a defamation action is personal, and the survival statute governs whether a claim the decedent held continues.

The four branches overlap deliberately, and the third is the broadest: impeaching honesty, integrity, virtue, or reputation requires no showing of public hatred or financial injury.

The definition is only the starting point. Constitutional requirements added since — actual malice for public figures, fault for private ones, the treatment of opinion — operate on top of it, and the privileges in the next section, the truth defence, and the Defamation Mitigation Act all qualify it.