Publication of Divorce Case Prohibited

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6621, 6 August 1931, Page 6

Publication of Divorce Case Prohibited

CHIEF JUSTICE TAKES UNUSUAL COURSE. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Aug. 5. Before evidence was called in the divorce suit set down for hearing before a jury, in ■which Tom Asher is seeking tho annulment of his marriage with Maata Asher, ou tho ground of alleged adultery, the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, said that from particulars supplied the case came within Section 55 of tho Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act and made an order forbidding the publication of any report or account of the evidence in tho ease, and said that the order included the prohibition ot the publication of any photograph or sketch of the parties or witnesses. Mention, however, could bo made that the case ivas being heard, and the names of the parties could also be published. It well might be, continued his Honour, that no newspaper had a right to publish a photograph or sketch of any person, be he litigant or witness, who had como to tho Court on business m connection with tho administration ot justice without tho consent of tho persons photographed. It might amount to contempt of Court. “I express no opinion upon the matter,” said his Honour, “because i prefer to reserve my opinion until the matter comes before the Court in the proper form as some day it seems to me it must do.”