NORTON LIBEL CASE

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2642, 26 October 1909, Page 6

NORTON LIBEL CASE

PROCEEDINGS IN THE COURT OF APPEAL. [Per Press Assooiation. I WELLINGTON, October 25. Argument in the appeal case, Norton v. Stringer, was continued to-day. Mr. Dunn cited authorities at great length to show that in directing the jury that the question of libel or no libel depended upon the intent of the writer of the article the Judge misdirected them. The jury might have found the words in themselves had no defamatory meaning, but that'the intention of the writer was to make them defamatory, and no evidence could have been called by/lefendant to show his intention was not to write a defamatory matter. Mr Dunn contended that the learned Judge was wrong in withdrawing the question of fair comment from the jury, also that the damages were excessive. Mr. Skerrett, K.C., on behalf of the respondent, stated the facts of the case at length, and contended, first, that the jury was entitled to take the whole of the circumstances into consideration, and that, under the circumstances, the damages were not excessive. No apology had been offered, and no attempt had been made to ascertain the real facts of the case, which .would have shown that the charge was absolutely false. Mr. Skerrett referred to a newspaper report of Swinburne v. proprietors of the Melbourne “Age,” in .which the Full Court of Victoria had refused to set aside a verdict of £3sou given,in a libel action. The case will be continued to-morrow.