LAW OF LIBEL

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 43

LAW OF LIBEL

AN AMENDING BILL. WELLINGTON, September 28. The promised amendment to the law of libel was introduced in the Legislative Council this afternoon. The- Bill, which is of only four clauses, is concerned particularly with what is to be regarded as privileged matter for the purposes of publication. The second and significant clause contains the following subsections: —In anV action or prosecution for a defamatory libel the publication of any of the following matters shall be deemed privilege in the absence of proof of malice : (a) A fair and accurate report of the proceedings of either House of Parliament or of any committee thereof. (b) A copy of, or extract from, or abstract of, any paper published by order or under the authority of either House of Parliament. (c) Any notice or report issued by or at the request of any Government office or department or officer of State, so far as such notice or rqport relates to matters of public concern. (d) A fair and accurate report of the proceedings of any court exercising judicial authority, whether in New Zealand or elsewhere, whether such proceedings are preliminary or interlocutory or final, and whether in open court or not, or of the result of any such proceedings, unless in the case of proceedings the publication of which has been prohibited by the court, or unless the matter published is blasphemous or obscene. (e) A fair and accurate report of the proceedings of any inquiry held under the authority of any Act, or under the authority of the &overnor-General-in-Coun-cil, or a true copy of or a fair and accurate extract from or abstract of any official report made by the person by whom the inquiry was held. (f) A fair and accurate report of the Acts and proceedings of the Executive Govern meiit, or of any department or officer thereof, so far as the publication of such report is authorised or requested by a Minister of the Crown. (g) A fair and accurate report of the proceedings of any local authority or body of trustees, or other persons constituted under the provisions of any Act or provincial ordinance for the discharge of public functions. or of a committee- of any such local authority or body, so far as the report relates to matters of public concern. (h) A fair and accurate report of the proceedings of any meeting of creditors held under any law for the time being in force in relation to bankruptcy. (i) A fair and accurate report of the proceedings of any meeting of shareholders or debenture-holders of any bank or public company, so far as the report relates to matters of public concern. (j) A fair and accurate report published in any newspaper of tho proceedings of any public meeting, so far as the matter published relates to matters of public concern. The term “publ.e meeting” means any meeting lawfully he’d for any lawful purpose and for the furtherance and discussion of any matter of public concern, or for the advocacy of the candidature of any person for a public office, whether the admission thereto is general or restricted. The clause of tho 1910 amendment providing for proof of publication is replaced by another proviso, in which the conditions are more precisely defined. In addition the offence of “criminal defamation,” as defined in section 226 of “The Crimes Act, 1998,” is abolished. That clause of the Act is repealed, together with (he sections of “The Law of Libel Amendment, 1910,” dependent upon it.