SERIOUS LIBEL
DAMAGES AGAINST “BECKETT’S BUDGET” APPEAL DISMISSED By its reserved judgment in Sydney last week the Full Court allowed Thomas Davis Mutch, M.L.A., to hold the verdict for £3,500 damages awarded him for a libel published in “Beckett’s Budget.” The court dismissed the defendants’ appeal with costs. Last September Mr. Mutch sued “Beckett’s Budget,” John H. C. Sleeman, Charles Victor Higham, and Alfred Henry Skelton, claiming £5,000 for alleged libel. The case was tried before Mr. Justice Davidson and a jury. Plaintiff was given a verdict for £3,500. From that verdict the defendants appealed, and asked for a new trial, on 25 grounds, chiefly concerning the conduct of the trial and the Judge’s directions to the jury. The appeal was heard by the Chief Justice, Sir Philip Street, Mr. Justice Ferguson, and Mr. Justice Campbell. In its judgment, the Full Court held that the libel was a very serious one, and expressed the opinion that although the damages awarded were very high, the seriousness of the libel justified them.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19281220.2.71
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Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 542, 20 December 1928, Page 10
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170SERIOUS LIBEL Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 542, 20 December 1928, Page 10
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