"TRUTH " LIBEL ACTION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1124, 11 May 1911, Page 5

"TRUTH " LIBEL ACTION.

-tA FRUITLESS APPEAL, By Telezraph—Press Association—Copyrieh* ■ London, May 9. Tho Privy Council appeal case, Norton versus Stringer, of New Zealand, was dismissed with costs. This is the appeal by Mr. John Norton, proprietor o£ "Truth," against the tine of iliMOff imposed on him by tho New Zealand Courts for. a libel published on Mr. Stringer,'K.C., of Christchurch. At the trial, before Sir. , Justice Denuiston, the jury returned a- verdict for the full amount of the claim—4:2ooo. Tho defendant then moved for a new trial on tho ground of misdirection by tho Judge, oxcessive damages, and certain alleged improper remarks made by the plaintiff's counsel in addressing the jury. The motion was heard before Mr. Justice Denniston in Christchurch, the defendant arguing the motion in person, and, after a heaving lasting two days, the motion was , refused. Thp defendant then appealed to the Court of Appeal, and after a hoariV extending over three days the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the appeal, holding that in the circumstances of the caso tho damages, although more than the Court would have allowed, were peculiarly for the jury to assess, and were not so outrageous as to justify the interference of the Court. It was further held that the Judge's direction to tho jury at Iho trial, taken as a whole, was not misleading or inaccurate, and that tho remarks by counsel for the plaintiff at th'e trial reflecting on tht character of the defendant's publication were defensible on the ground that at the trial a copy of the newspaper as a whole was put in eviflence, and not merely (he libellous ar- j tide. The defendant then paid the amount of the verdict, 4:2000, and costs into Court, and appealed to the Privy Council, with the result above mentioned