A CURIOUS CASE

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 89, 14 March 1877, Page 2

A CURIOUS CASE

A casp raising ft question, of much im-. portanpe tQ-newpapfr*, w.** argued the. other day before the Common Pleas Din* sion. The plaintiff, a retired shipowner at Venice, sued the defendants, the corporation, of Lloyd's for an alleged libel contained in a report published by them. of • the trial of a certain Italian clerk named G-uerra. The report complained of, con*, tamed " a short abstract of Gnerra's indictment, the opening speech of the prosecution, a. sbprt abstract of defence, and; the summing up of the judsje,. which, | latter charged the plaintiff in strong terms with fraud." Upon the publication, of this t report the plaintiff brought his ac« tien ; and the defence set up was that the. contents, of the pamphlet were true in fact, and further, that they were privk leged in. law,* Lord Coleridge, however,, directed the jury that the privilege enjoyed by the public press did not extend. to a corporation like Lloyd's ;- and, farther, that even if this, were otherwise, tbe. privilege was forfeited in this ease by reason of the fact that, as the report "did. not set out the evidence a* the trial it could not to be.rejjarded as a substantially fair account of what passed in Court. • The plaintiffs accordingly obtained judg« ment ; but a rule w*> granted to enter a verdict for the defendants, on toe ground of misdirection, or for anew trial, on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence. After an argument, in which it was contended} against tho motion, and for some time apparently w»ith the assent of Lord Coleridge, that a report loses its. pngeleg* unless it sets ou* the whole of the. evidence, a new trial wm granted ; «nd the press has certainly reason tocongratulate itself that Lord Coleridge • ruling has not taken its, place a» established law. The. proposition that as matter of Jaw, * report must be unabridged, in order to. be, privileged is in direct contradietionto the ruUngaof Lord Campbell and, Mr. Justice. Bylea quoted in the case, and would have, most serious results to newspapers if put into praatice. Indeed, it might lead to. the extinction of reporting aftogetbeiY except as regarded cases of public interest or importance. At the new trial we. suppose the. qnestion whether the, , report in, the present case mt a fair 00% will be left to the jury.