LIABILITY OF SUBSCRIBERS TO NEWSPAPERS

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 178, 3 December 1880, Page 4

LIABILITY OF SUBSCRIBERS TO NEWSPAPERS

Tn the hearing of a case in the Smalldobts (,'ourt, Mudgee, N.S. W,, the otliei' day, certain points of law and practice where brought out which it behoves tiie public to bear *in mind. They arc those : “Any person who tabes a paper regularly from a post office, or whether lie has subscribed or not, is responsible for the payment.' “If a person orders his paper to be discontinued, he must pay all arrears, or the publisher may continue to send until payment is made, and collect the whole amount whether the paper is taken from the office or not.” “ The courts have decided that refusing to take newspapers and periodicals from the post office, or removing or leaving them uncalled for, is prima facie evidence of that intentional fraud.” The Trade protection Society sued sixteen of their subscribers for arrears of subscription to their paper. The defendants admitted that they weresubseribers, but refused to pay the amount sued for, alleging by their attorney as a defence that they had givcnnoticeto the proprietors to discontinue sending the same to them. The plaintiffs contended that the defendants were liable, as at the time the notice was sent the defendants were in arrear in their subscriptions, and that his clients could, in defiance of that notice, continue sending the paper until all arrears were paid. In support of this view he referred the Court to several authorities on this matter. The police magistrates, after hearing the attorneys on both sides, sustained the views of the plaintiffs attorney and gave a. verdict for the amount claimed in each case, together with witnesses expenses.