LAWSUIT OVER A JOIST OF MEAT

Evening Star, Issue 19351, 10 September 1926, Page 10

LAWSUIT OVER A JOIST OF MEAT

JUDGE AND CUSTOMER’S RIGHT TO COMPLAIN. The hearing was concluded in tho King’s Bench of a case in which Mr William Donovan, a butcher, of Uiu>ivick sought damages tor alleged slander from Mr J. V. K. Wright, a retired bank cashier, arising out ot tho palo of a joint of moat which Mr Wright said was not EnglishHe pleaded that tho occasion was privileged. Summing up, Mr Justice M Cardie said that, having regard to the evidence which had been given, lie felt that a pica of justification might well have been raised by the defendant. Speaking of tho fact that Miss Wright, tho defendant’s daughter, did not complain when she was served with the meat, His Lordship said it was known to those who studied human nature, and especially tho nature of ladies, that rather than have a dispute or a row with a tradesman, they would go homo and tell their husband or brother to see the tradesman on the spot. Uis Lordship said if a man honestly believed ho had a good cause for complaint against a tradesman, then it was right to complain ; not only was it right that a customer should complain, but it was his duty to do so in order that the purity and well-being of tho trade might be maintained. It was in his own interest and in the public interest that the defendant should return to tho plaintiff's shop and toll Mr Donovan what was passing through his mind —that tho meat was not English, but foreign. Mr Justice M'Cardio said (ho fact that there wore customers in tho shop did not deprive the defendant of the right to make an honest complaint. His Lordship held that tho occasion Was privileged, and consequently that the onus was on the plaintiff to prove that tlio defendant spoke with malice. A verdict lor the defendant would not mean that the jury were convicting the plaintiff of fraudulently selling imported meat for English meat, as the issue of justification had not been raised.

The jury returned a verdict for tho defendant, and added a rider that there was no reflection on the character of tho plaintiff with regard to the moat. Judgment was entered accordingly, with costs.