Defamation - 1800- 1849

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This page lists 32 cases, and was prepared on 05 January 2012.

Gurney -v- Longman [1807] EngR 211; (1806, 1807) 13 Ves Jun 493; (1807) 33 ER 379
1 Apr 1807	Defamation
	Link[s] omitted

Carr -v- Hood [1808] 1 Camp 354
1808 QBD Lord Ellenborough	Defamation, Intellectual Property	Casemap 1 Citers
	Lord Ellenborough said: "it is not libellous to ridicule a literary composition, or the author of it, in so far as he has embodied himself with his work. Every man who publishes a book commits himself to the judgment of the public, and anyone may comment upon his performance. If the commentator does not step aside from the work, or introduce fiction for the purpose of condemnation, he exercises a fair and legitimate right. In the present case, had the party writing the criticism followed the plaintiff into domestic life for the purpose of slander, that would have been libellous: but no passage of this sort has been produced; and even the caricature does not effect the plaintiff, except as the author of the book which is ridiculed."

Tabart -v- Tipper (1808) 1 Camp 350
2 Jan 1808	Defamation	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
	The plaintiff said that the defendant had libelled him by saying that he was in the habit of publishing immoral and foolish books. Held: It was open to a defendant denying the libel to establish through evidence that the criticism was fair.

Home -v- Lord F C Bentinck [1820] EngR 447; (1820) 2 Br & B 130; (1820) 129 ER 907
17 Jun 1820	Defamation, Armed Forces	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
	The commander-in-chief of the army, having directed an assemblage of commissioned military officers to hold an enquiry into the conduct of H., a commissioned officer in the army ; and H. having sued the president of the enquiry for a libel stated to be contained in the report thereupon made : Held, that this report was a privileged publication; that it was properly rejected as evidence at the trial ; and that an office copy of the same was also properly rejected.
	Link[s] omitted

Edwards -v- Bell (1824) 1 Bing 403
1824 Burrough J	Defamation
	The justification of the sting of a libel is sufficient even if it does not extend to every epithet or detail in the words complained of. Held: “As much must be justified as meets the sting of the charge, and if anything be contained in the charge, which does not add to the sting of it, that need not be justified.”

De Crespigny -v- Wellesley [1829] 5 Bing 392
1829 Best CJ	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	In an action for a libel, it is no plea, that the defendant had the libellous statement from another, and upon publication disclosed the author's name.

McPherson -v- Daniels (1829) 10 B & C 263
1829 Bayley, Littledale, Parke JJ	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	Bayley J said: Upon the great point, viz. whether it is a good defence to an action for slander for a defendant to show he heard it from another, and at that time named the author, I am of the opinion that it is not" and "the law will not permit a man to recover damages in respect of an injury to a character which he does not or ought not to possess." Truth is a complete defence.

Child -v- Affleck Et Ux [1829] EngR 459; (1829) 9 B & C 403; (1829) 109 ER 150
13 May 1829	Defamation
	In an action for libel, it appeared that the defendant, with whom the plaintiff had lived as servant, in answer to inquiries respecting her character, wrote a letter imputing misconduct to her whilst in that service, and after she left it; and the defendant also made similar parol statements to two persons that had recommended the plaintiff to her: Held, that neither the letter itself nor the parol statements proved malice, and that, consequently the letter was a privileged communication, and the plaintiff not entitled to recover.
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Ward -v- Weeks (1830) 7 Bing 211
1830 Tindal CJ	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	Complaint was made as to the publication of defamatory words addressed to one Bryce who “without any authority from the defendant” repeated the same to Bryer. It was the repetition and not the original statement which “occasioned the Plaintiffs damage”. Held: The plaintiff was non-suited. Tindal CJ: “Every man must be taken to be answerable for the necessary consequences of his own wrongful acts: but such a spontaneous and unauthorised communication cannot be considered as the necessary consequence of the original uttering of the words. For no effect whatever followed from the first speaking of the words to Bryce; if he had kept them to himself Bryer would still have trusted the plaintiff. It was the repetition of them by Bryce to Bryer, which was the voluntary act of a free agent, over whom the defendant had no control, and for whose acts he is not answerable, that was the immediate cause of the plaintiff’s damage.”

Harvey -v- French [1832] EngR 140; (1832) 1 Cr & M 11; (1832) 149 ER 293
1832	Defamation
	Link[s] omitted

Cook -v- Stokes And Wife [1832] EngR 922; (1832) 1 M & Rob 237; (1832) 174 ER 81 (A)
18 Dec 1832	Defamation
	An allegation of slanderous words, accompanied with an assertion of a fact as the foundation of the words, is not supported by evidence of the words, accompanied with an assertion of the speaker's belief only of the fact.
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Toogood -v- Spyring (1834) 1 CM & R 181; [1834] EngR 363; (1834) 1 CrM & R 181; (1834) 149 ER 1044
1834 Parke B	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	The defence of qualified privilege arises where the statement in question "In general, an action lies for the malicious publication of statements which are false in fact, and injurious to the character of another (within the well-known limits as to verbal slander), and the law considers such publication as malicious, unless it is fairly made by a person in the discharge of some public or private duty, whether legal or moral, or in the conduct of his own affairs, in matters where his interest is concerned. In such cases, the occasion prevents the inference of malice, which the law draws from unauthorised communications, and affords a qualified defence depending upon the absence of actual malice. If fairly warranted by any reasonable occasion or exigency, and honestly made, such communications are protected for the common convenience and welfare of society; and the law has not restricted the right to make them within any narrow limits."
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Chalmers -v- Payne [1835] 2 Cr M&R 156; [1835] EngR 38; (1835) 2 CrM & R 156; (1835) 150 ER 67
1835 B Alderson	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	The court considered the bane and antidote doctrine in defamation. B Alderson said: "But the question here is, whether the matter be slanderous or not, which is a question of the Jury; who are to take the whole together and say whether the result of the whole is calculated to injure Plaintiffs character. In one part of this publication something disreputable to the Plaintiff is stated but that is removed by the conclusion: the bane and the antidote must be taken together."
	[ Commonlii ]

Tarpley, Clerk, -v- Blaby [1836] EngR 236; (1836) 7 Car & P 395; (1836) 173 ER 176
1836	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	In an action for libel the defendant may give evidence of provocation in mitigation of damages, and may for that purpose show that the plaintiff had used expressions calculated to provoke him, both in writing and verbally.
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Tarpley, Clerk, -v- Blabey [1836] EngR 299; (1835) 2 Bing NC 437; (1836) 132 ER 171 (B)
13 Jan 1836 Tyndall CJ	Defamation	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
	A libellous paper, in the handwriting of the Defendant, found in the house of the editor of a newspaper in which the libel complained of appeared, is admissible in evidence against the Defendant, notwithstanding several parts of it have been erased, and are omitted in the newspaper, provided the passages erased do not qualify the libel. In order to the admission in evidence of libels by the Plaintiff in mitigation of damages, it must be shewn with precision that such libels relate to the libels by the Defendant. Tyndall CJ said: "If the Defendant authorised the printing of the libel in its larger and more offensive form, he gave the minor authority to print the less offensive parts of it. The case would be different if any qualifying expressions had been left out."
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Day -v- Bream (1837) 2 Moody and Robinson 54
1837 Patteson J	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	A printed handbill, contained imputations on the plaintiff clearly libellous. The plaintiff lived at Marlborough; the defendant was the porter of the coach-office at that place, and it was his business to carry out and deliver the parcels that came by the different coaches to the office. For the plaintiff it was shewn that the defendant had delivered on the same day papers parcels, tied up, and containing a large quantity of the handbills in question, to two or three inhabitants of the place, to whom the parcels were directed. The court "in summing up, left it to the jury to say whether the defendant delivered the parcels in the course of his business without any knowledge of their contents; if so, find for him, observing, that prima facie he was answerable, inasmuch as he had in fact delivered and put into publication the libel complained of, and was therefore called upon to shew his ignorance of the contents."

Duncombe -v- Daniell (1837) 8 C & P 222
1837 Coleridge J, Lord Denman CJ	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	The defendant was a voter in a parliamentary election. He wrote two letters which were published in a newspaper, the "Morning Post," which reflected upon the character of one of the candidates in his constituency. The plaintiff was awarded damages. The defendant applied for a new trial on the grounds inter alia was that it was justifiable for an elector bona fide to communicate to the constituency any matter respecting a candidate which he believed to be true and believed to be material to the election. The application was refused. The defendant had to go further and show that the elector was entitled to publish it to all the world, as the publication was in a newspaper. Counsel for the defendant submitted that if no more was done than was necessary to make the matters known to the electors the publication was privileged, and that whether or not anything more was done was a question for the jury. (Lord Denman CJ) "However large the privilege of electors may be, it is extravagant to suppose that it can justify the publication to all the world of facts injurious to a person who happens to stand in the situation of a candidate."

Stockdale -v- Hansard And Others [1837] EngR 486; (1837) 7 Car & P 731; (1837) 173 ER 319
7 Feb 1837	Defamation, Constitutional	Casemap 1 Cites
	The House of Commons, in the years 1836 and 1836, made resolutions that parliamentary papers and reports, printed for the use of the house, should be publicly sold by their printer ; and afterwards a report from the Inspectors of Prisons was ordered by the house to be printed. Held: that If this report contained a libel on an individual, the printer of the House of Commons who sold it was liable to an action, and that the resolution of the House did not render this a privileged publication.
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Stockdale -v- Hansard And Others [1837] EngR 487; (1837) 2 M & Rob 9; (1837) 174 ER 196 (B)
7 Feb 1837	Defamation, Constitutional	Casemap 1 Citers
	The order of the House of Commons for the publication and sale by certain booksellers of Reports laid before the House, does not exempt the booksellers from answering in an action of libel any individual injured by defamatory matters in such Reports so sold by them.
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Thornton -v- Stephen [1837] EngR 852; (1837) 2 M & Rob 45; (1837) 174 ER 209 (A)
13 Jun 1837	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	[ Commonlii ]

Cooper -v- Lawson [1838] EngR 888; (1838) 8 Ad & E 746; (1838) 112 ER 1020 (B)
5 Nov 1838	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	Case for libel. The alleged libel stated that plaintiff, a tradesman in London became surety for the petitioner on the Berwick Election Petition, and stated himself, on oath, to be sufficiently qualified in point of property, when he was not in fact qualified, nor able to pay his debts. It then asked, why the plaintiff, being unconnected with the borough, should take so much trouble, and incur such an exposure of his embarrassments; and proceeded : "There can be but one answer to these very natural and recondite queries; he is hired for the occasion. " The defendant justified, stating that the above mentioned allegations in the libel (except the hiring, which was not specifically noticed), were true, and that the publication was a correct report of proceedings in a legal Court, together with a fair and bona fide commentary thereon." Replication de injuria. Issue thereon. Held, that the concluding observation in the libel, not being a mere inference rom the previous statement, but introducing a substantive fact, required a distinct justification, and therefor that that, on trial of the above issue, it was properly left to the jury to say, not only whether the evidence made out the facts first alleged, but also whether the imputation that the plaintiff had been hired, was a fair comment.
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Stockdale -v- Hansard (1839) 9 Ad & El 1; [1839] EWHC QB J21; 112 ER 1112; (1839) 9 Ad & Ell 96
1839 Lord Denman CJ	Constitutional, Defamation	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
	Bailii It is no defence in law to an action for publishing a libel, that defamatory matter is part of a order of the House of Commons, laid before the House, and thereupon became part of the proceedings of the House and which was afterwards, by orders of the House, printed and published by defendant; and that the House of Commons heretofore resolved, declared, and adjudged "that the power of publishing such of its reports, votes, and proceedings as it shall deem necessary or conducive to the public interests is an essential incident to the constitutional functions of parliament, more especially to the Commons' House of Parliament as the representative portion of it." On demurrer to a plea suggesting such a defence, a court of law is competent to determine whether or not the House of Commons has such privilege as will support the plea. Lord Denman CJ said: "Our respect and gratitude to the Convention Parliament ought not to blind us to the fact that this sentence of imprisonment was as unjust and tyrannical as any of those of arbitrary power for which they deprived King James of his Crown." and "Where the subject matter falls within their jurisdiction, no doubt we cannot question their judgment; but we are now enquiring whether the subject matter does fall within the jurisdiction of the House of Commons. It is contended that they can bring it within their jurisdiction by declaring it so. To this claim, as arising from their privileges, I have already stated my answer: it is perfectly clear that none of these Courts could give themselves jurisdiction by adjudging that they enjoy it."
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John Joseph Stockdale -v- James Hansard, Luke Graves Hansard, Luke James Hansard, And Luke Henry Hansard [1839] EngR 139; (1839) 9 Ad & E 1; (1839) 112 ER 1112
1839	Constitutional, Defamation	Casemap
	It is no defence in law to an action for publishing a libel that the defamatory matter is part of a document which was, by order of the House of Comnions, laid before the House, and thereupon became part of the proceedings of the House, and which was afterwards, by orders of the House, printed and published by defendant and that the House of Commons heretofore resolved, declared, and adjudged "that the power of publishing such of its reports, votes, and proceedings as it shall deem necessary or conducive to te public interests is an essential incident to the constitutional functions of parliament, more especially to the Commons' House of Parliament as the representative portion of it." On demurrer to a plea suggesting such a defence, a Court of Law is competent to determine whether or not the House of Commons has such privilege as will support the plea.
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Empson -v- Griffin [1839] EngR 1130; (1839) 11 Ad & E 186; (1839) 113 ER 385
27 Nov 1839	Defamation
	Where one of several counts in a declaration for slander was bad, and some of the defamatory words in it were proved at the trial, and the jury found a general verdict, with damages, for the plaintiff the Court set aside an order of the Judge who tried the cause to confine the verdict and damages to one of the good counts, and awarded a venire de novo.
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Parmiter -v- Coupland And Another [1840] EngR 168; (1840) 6 M & W 105; (1840) 151 ER 340
1840 Parke B	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	In an action for libel, the Judge is not bound to state to the jury, as matter of law, whether the publication complained of be a libel or not ; but the proper course is for him to define what is a libel in point of law, and to leave it to the jury to say whether the publication in question falls within that definition; and, as incidental to that, whether it is calculated to injure the character of the plaintiff. A publication may be a libel on a private person, which would not be any libel on a person in a public capacity; but any imputation of unjust or corrupt motives is equally libellous in either case. It was for the judge to give a legal definition of the offence which he defined as being: "A publication, without justification or lawful excuse, which is calculated to injure the reputation of another, by exposing him to hatred, contempt, or ridicule."
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Regina -v- Lovett [1841] EngR 101; (1841) 9 Car & P 462; (1841) 173 ER 912
1841	Defamation, Litigation Practice
	If the manuscript of a libel be proved to be in the handwriting of the defendant, and it be also proved to have been printed and published, this is evidence to go to the jury that it was published by the defendant, although there there be no evidence given to shew that the printing aud publication were by the direction of the defendant. If a paper, published by the defendant, has a direct tendency to cause unlawful meetings and disturbances, and to lead to a violation of the laws, it is a seditious libel; and with respect to the intent every one must be taken to intend the natural consequences of what he has done. A and B were separately indicted for publishing the same libel. Both indictments containing the same prefatory allegations. A was tried first. and on the trial of B such of the witnesses as had been also examined on the trial of A. had (by consent) their evidence read over to them from the Judge's notes, B being allowed to further cross-examine them. A defendant, who surrenders to take his trial on a charge of miisdemeanor, need not stand at the bar to be tried, but may be allowed a place at the table of the Court.
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Edsall -v- Russell [1842] EngR 1054; (1842) 4 Man & G 1090; (1842) 134 ER 446
18 Nov 1842	Defamation	Casemap
	An apothecary claimed in slander. First was "He killed my child; it was the saline injection that did it." The innuendo was that the plaintiff had been guilty of feloniously killing the child by improperly and with gross ignorance and with gross and culpable want of caution administering the injection. No objection to the first slander was pursued by the defendant. Held. The defendant was entitled to judgment on another slander consisting of these words: "he made up his own medicines wrong through jealousy, because I would not allow him to use his judgment" because they did not impute a criminal offence, and whether the medicines were noxious or innocent, was left in doubt.
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Mary Griffiths -v- Lewis [1845] EngR 665; (1845) 7 QB 61; (1845) 115 ER 411
21 Apr 1845	Defamation	Casemap
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Coxhead -v- Richards [1846] EngR 379; (1846) 2 CB 569; (1846) 135 ER 1069
31 Jan 1846 Cresswell J	Defamation	Casemap 1 Citers
	A complaint was made as to a warning of suspected misconduct of ship's captain communicated to a shipowner. It did not involve a risk to the life of those on board, but the court considered what the position might have been if it had. Cresswell J said: "It is so manifestly for the advantage of society that that those who are about to employ a servant should be enable to learn what his previous conduct has been, that it may be well deemed the moral duty of the former employer to answer inquiries to the best of his belief".
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Mary Griffiths -v- Lewis [1846] EngR 593; (1846) 8 QB 841; (1846) 115 ER 1091
27 Apr 1846	Defamation	Casemap 1 Cites 1 Citers
	Where a declaration in slander sets out words alleged to have been uttered, some in one discourse, and the remainder in a second discourse, and there are in form but two counts, each containing only the words alleged to have been uttered in one discourse, the declaration will be treated as containing only two counts, though each of such two counts contains a separate allegations of the uttering of different words in the particular discourse. Therefore, if in each count there be any words set out which are slanderous, judgment for plaintiff will not be arrested after verdict, though the damages be general and some of the separate allegations recite only words not actionable. The original publisher of a defamatory statement had no privilege to repeat it when asked for an explanation.
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Duke of Brunswick -v- Harmer (1849) 14 QB 185
1849 QBD Coleridge J	Defamation, Limitation	Casemap 1 Citers
	On 19 September 1830 an article was published in the Weekly Dispatch. The limitation period for libel was six years. The article defamed the Duke of Brunswick. Seventeen years after its publication an agent of the Duke purchased a back number containing the article from the Weekly Dispatch's office. Another copy was obtained from the British Museum. The Duke sued on those two publications. The defendant contended that the cause of action was time barred, relying on the original publication date. Held: The delivery of a copy of the newspaper to the plaintiff's agent constituted a separate publication in respect of which suit could be brought: "The defendant, who, on the application of a stranger, delivers to him the writing which libels a third person, publishes the libellous matter to him, though he may have been sent for the purpose of procuring the work by that third person. So far as in him lies, he lowers the reputation of the principal in the mind of the agent, which, although that of an agent, is as capable of being affected by the assertions as if he were a stranger. The act is complete by the delivery: and its legal character is not altered, either by the plaintiff's procurement or by the subsequent handing over of the writing to him."

The Duke Of Brunswick and Luneberg -v- Harmer [1849] EngR 915; (1849) 14 QB 185; (1849) 117 ER 75
2 Nov 1849	Defamation, Limitation	Casemap 1 Citers
	The first count, in an action for a libel, was in respect of a newspaper published more than seventeen years before action brought. The Statute of Limitations being pleaded: Held, that the plea was negatived by proof that a single copy had been purchased from defendant for the plaintiff by plaintiff's agent, within the six years. Other counts were in respect of other libels, alleged to impute to plaintiff the libellous matter charged in the first count, which was set out by way of unducement in each count. The libels themselves, in these other counts, did not refer to that in the first count. The Statute of Limitations was pleaded to so much of these counts as related to the matter in the first count. Held, that the plea was negatived as to these counts also; and, further, that it was not necessary to tell the jury, in estimating the damages as to such matter, to take into consideration the fact that the only pubiication proved had been the sale to the agent.
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