​JUSTIFICATION, in law, the showing by a defendant in a suit of sufficient reason why he did what he was called upon to answer, ​For example, in an action for assault and battery, the defendant may prove in justification that the prosecutor assaulted or beat him first, and that he acted merely in self-defence. The word is employed particularly in actions for defamation, and has in this connexion a somewhat special meaning. When a libel consists of a specific charge a plea of justification is a plea that the words are true in substance and in fact (see Libel and Slander).