LAW OF LIBEL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 926, 16 October 1879, Page 2

LAW OF LIBEL.

The law of libel m England doeß not seem to be m a much more satisfactory state than it is m New Zealand. A movement is now going on amongst newspapers at home to obtain some security for costs, both m civil and criminal actions. A select committee of the House of Commons has recently been appointed to enquire into the law of libel to take evidence and report thereon. This action arises out of a bill, which has been brought into the Legislature by Mr. Hutchinson, member for Halifax, but to the provisions of which exceptions have been taken, as it would oheck free discussion at representative boards, by making the utterer of slanderous matter responsible for libel when it was published. The solicitor for the London Times stated m evidence, " That there had been twentyone actions for libel brought against tne Times since the beginning of 1872. In fourteen of the cases the plaintiffs abandoned the actions before trial, and m four the plaintiffs recovered no damages. In the eighteen actions the law expenses of the Times amounted to £3200, and only £I_o was recovered. Of the three actions m which the plaintiffs recovered one was brought by Rubery, m the well-known diamond mining case, and the other by one Polis. The Times costs m defending those actions amounted to £5000, and m neither of them could the plaintiffs have paid a shilling if they had been unsuccessful. "