THE LAW OF LIBEL.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 19 May 1922, Page 5

THE LAW OF LIBEL.

CURIOUS DECISION. RECORDER’S COMMENT. Per Press Association —Copyright. London, May 18. That a wife cannot be libelled by her husband was the decision of the Recorder at the Central Criminal Court in quashing the indictment against a husband for publishing defamatory libel against his wife. The defence quoted a leading case on the subject, wherein it was held that the wife could not proceed against her husband for libel as the libel might arise from angry passions and the desire for revenge, which might lead to a breach of the peace. The Recorder commented: “I suppose the judge thought that the passions ought to be settled in domestic form. If a man hits his wife she has a remedy, but if he inflicts more serious injury by writing libellous postcards she has none.