Kissed Against Her Will: A Timely Case of Victorian Assault and Abuse of Power

Since coming forward to report sexual abuse would ruin the woman's reputation forever, she had little incentive to make a false accusation.

Libel and Defamation are very old. I am not in any way a lawyer, but have fallen down this rabbit hole before, the Wikipedia article has a lot of depth [0].

Essentially compensatory damages are common, punitive damages are much rarer and require proof of malicious intent. There are written examples from the 1300's onwards, though much of the law derives from older periods.

The level of compensation and punishment runs parallel to that that would be received had somebody been physically attacked. Compensation is based on the immediate and future effects of damage suffered, and punishment is based on intent, relative severity, and the 'character' of the attacker.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_defamation_law