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THE LAW OF LIBEL.

liefcrring to the recent case in which a person who was libelled recovered damages from a bookseller, the Christchurch "Press" says;™" It cannot begenerally known that not only is the printer, publisher, or editor of a newspaper responsible for a libel which it contains, but that, legally speaking, a per=on who sells a paper'knowing if I" contain defamatory matter, or who even shows it to a third party, is considered to have " published " tlic libel, and may be cast in damages accordingly. The action will do gootl if it has the effect, of making newsagents and booksellers throughout the colony more careful as to the class of literature, which they sell to th.' public. Jl is true that even an ordinarily well-conducted newspaper may, through inadvertence, publish libellous matter, but it would require very si mug evidence indeed to induce a jury to award damages against a newsvcntlor in such a case. If, however, a shopkeeper chaoses to sell publications which avowedly deal in scurrility and other objectionable matter, he must necessarily incur some risk, and it is well (hat this should he unde/stuoil." The presiding judge said:—The oulv defence open was that the defendant' did not know, and ought not lo have known, that the paper contained the article complained of, but the evidence of Ihe witnesses disproved that. The article spoke for itself, and apart from its abusive brutality there was the imputation of linancial dishonesty against l!ox*hall. On the question of damage his Honor said Unit the defendant was j in dilVereiit position to the proprietor or publisher of the journal, but there was no reasonable ground for suggesting that if a man was libelled he should not lit', at. liberty to select some person actually guilty of the pulilicalion lo proceed at'i'iinsl. and In vindicate his character in the place where lie resided. A man who undertook the distribution of such a paper as Wellington Truth took the risk of disseminating any libellous articles. Whether he was indemnified or not was another matter.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19080624.2.34

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 157, 24 June 1908, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
341

THE LAW OF LIBEL. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 157, 24 June 1908, Page 4

THE LAW OF LIBEL. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 157, 24 June 1908, Page 4

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