English law defined seditious libel as criticizing the government in such a way as to reduce public confidence.
VOA: special.2009.04.20
All sides believe that the result of the discussion so far has been to produce a much better public interest defence against libel actions, that something was published responsibly in the public interest.
Pure connoisseurship was unlikely to be decisive in court, and unless Colnaghi successfully pressed charges against him, their public accusation of Hebborn would expose them to a libel suit.
In recent years the British tabloids have gorged on his foibles: A public and messy divorce was followed by a colorful libel suit he filed against a former Italian manager (whom he had fired).