The basis of this contention, such as it is, appears to be a misconception of the effect of the gloss, if I may so phrase it, first put upon the law of libel in relation to fair comment in the dicta of Crompton, J., and Blackburn, J., in Campbell v. Spottiswoode, decided in 1863, and subsequently approved in Merivale v. Carson, decided in 1887. I have already had occasion to examine the effect of these views upon the law of libel in McQuire v. Western Morning News Co., [1903] 2 K. B. 100. In my opinion the substance of the matter remains unchanged and malice remains exactly where it did. The dicta no doubt assert the etymological inexactitude of the word “privilege” as connoting a right common to the public at large, and the limits of the right itself are pointed out which, whether it be called privilege or by any other name, does not extend to cover misstatements of fact however bona fide;[[520]] but they in no degree affect the standard by which the fairness of the comment is to be judged or relieve the commentator from liability, if the comment be malicious, if, indeed, it can then be described as comment at all. The right, though shared by the public, is the right of every individual who asserts it, and is, qua him, an individual right whatever name it be called by, and comment by him which is colored by malice cannot from his standpoint be deemed fair. He, and he only, is the person in whose motives the plaintiff in the libel action is concerned, and if he, the person sued, is proved to have allowed his view to be distorted by malice, it is quite immaterial that somebody else might without malice have written an equally damnatory criticism. The defendant, and not that other person, is the party sued. This seems to me quite clear in point of principle; but, as already pointed out in McQuire v. Western Morning News Co., [1903] 2 K. B. 100, the law continued to be administered after Campbell v. Spottiswoode, just as it always had been before, down to and since Merivale v. Carson. That case decided nothing inconsistent with the law of libel as thus administered, though each of the learned judges expressed an opinion in favor of the view taken in the dicta I have referred to of Crompton, J., and Blackburn, J., in preference to that of Willes, J., in Henwood v. Harrison, L. R. 7 C. P. 600. But, as already pointed out in McQuire v. Western Morning News Co., [1903] 2 K. B. 100, the difference between the two views is, in the language of Bowen, L. J., in Merivale v. Carson, a difference in the “metaphysical exposition” of the right and “is rather academical than practical.” I think the head-note in the last-mentioned case is to some extent the cause of what seems to me an erroneous impression as to the effect of the decision. The words of that note seem to suggest a difference of right, under the general law of libel, in respect of communications made on a privileged occasion and communications made in the shape of criticism on a matter of public interest. In cases of privilege, properly so called, nothing that falls outside the privilege is protected by it, and if defamatory it must be otherwise justified. The occasion being privileged, the extent of the privilege may vary according to the nature of the case and the limits of the right or duty which is the basis of the privilege. But this is precisely the position in the case where the right exercised is one shared by the rest of the public, and not one limited to an individual or a class. The extent of the right has to be ascertained, and in respect of any communication which falls within it the immunity, if it be not absolute, can be displaced only by proof of malice. In the case of comment on literary works the occasion is created by the publication, and a right then arises to criticise honestly, however adversely. No such occasion would arise in respect of a private unpublished letter. If a writer were to get hold of a private letter of a well-known author and publish a damnatory article on the author’s literary style and taste, as evidenced by the letter, it seems to me that he would have no immunity from the ordinary law in respect of defamatory writings. The only difference, then, in the legal incidents of ordinary privilege, limited to individuals on the one hand and the right in the public to criticise on the other, would seem to be that the one might, with somewhat less latitude than the other, though not, perhaps, with perfect accuracy, be described as “privilege.” Now, the head-note might possibly suggest, at first sight at all events, particularly when it adds “Henwood v. Harrison, L. R. 7 C. P. 606, dissented from,” that not merely an academical difference in the analysis of rights had been expressed, but that there was a difference of substance in the bearing of malice in the two cases in respect of communications or criticisms falling prima facie within the right or privilege. The limits of the right, as I have already pointed out, may be, and are, different, but the law with respect to communications that prima facie fall within them is the same. Proof of malice may take a criticism prima facie fair outside the right of fair comment, just as it takes a communication prima facie privileged outside the privilege. The particular allegation which was unprotected in Merivale v. Carson was never within the “right” when the facts were ascertained by the jury in interpreting the passage impugned. Proof of bona fide belief was therefore irrelevant; nothing but proof of the truth could justify the allegation. If the analysis be strictly carried out it will be found that the two rights, whatever name they are called by, are governed by precisely the same rules. The only practical difference is that in an action based on a criticism of a published work the transaction begins by the admission, on the part of the plaintiff, implied from the averment by him of publication of the work criticised, that the comment came into existence on a protected occasion. He is placed, therefore, in precisely the same position as he would have been in had he sued in respect of a defamatory writing prima facie unprotected and therefore actionable, but had gone on to aver facts which created a privilege strictly so called. Beginning thus at this stage in the transaction, he would have accepted the onus of proving malice in fact. If he had veiled the fact that the writing criticised had become matter of public interest by publication it would have been prima facie libellous, and the defendant would have had to plead such a publication as would let in the right to comment on a matter of public interest in order to bring himself within the protection. This shows that acceptance of the dicta under discussion does not in the slightest degree affect the place of malice in the law of libel, and that it is only by leaving out one step in the analysis that the public right, as distinguished from the privilege, may appear to carry with it different incidents. There is not even any decision that the word privilege, as used in Henwood v. Harrison, to which Lord Esher was himself a party, is not as good a word as any substitute that can be suggested to express the right by which, in certain circumstances, writing defamatory of another person may be published with impunity, because the presumption of malice is negatived. For the reasons I have given the difference is one of words only, and could not be a matter of legal decision.

I have thought it worth while to sift this contention somewhat elaborately, as it is apparently based upon a misconception which seems to have a tendency to repeat itself as to the effect of Merivale v. Carson, on the law of libel. But the contention of the defendants can be met, not by reference to principle only, but also by direct authority. To go back to the source itself of the supposed new departure, Campbell v. Spottiswoode, Blackburn, J., says: “Honest belief may be an ingredient to be taken into consideration by the jury in determining whether the publication is a libel, that is, whether it exceeds the limits of a fair and proper comment.” In Merivale v. Carson itself Lord Esher, M. R., deals with the question. He says: “It is said that if in some other case the alleged libel would not be beyond the limits of fair criticism, and it could be shown that the defendant was not really criticising the work, but was writing with an indirect and dishonest intention to injure the plaintiffs still the motive would not make the criticism a libel. I am inclined to think that it would, and for this reason, that the comment would not then really be a criticism of the work. The mind of the writer would not be that of a critic, but he would be actuated by an intention to injure the author.” Though the learned judge in this passage expresses only an inclination of opinion, the reason given seems to me to be conclusive. But in a very recent case in this court, the point is actually decided: Plymouth Mutual Coöperative and Industrial Society v. Traders’ Publishing Association, [1906] 1 K. B. 403. The question there was whether an interrogatory addressed to the state of mind of the defendant, who had pleaded fair comment in an action of libel, was admissible. The court decided that it was, following a previous decision of this court in a case of privilege strictly so called. Vaughan Williams, L. J., referring to White & Co. v. Credit Reform Association and Credit Index, [1905] 1 K. B. 653, says at page 413 of the report: “It seems to me that that case shows that an interrogatory of this kind is just as relevant and admissible in a case where the defence is fair comment as in one where it is privilege. In either case the question raised is really as to the state of mind of the defendant when he published the alleged libel, the question being in the one case whether he published it in the spirit of malice, in the other whether he published it in the spirit of unfairness. In either case, I think such an interrogatory as the one now in question is admissible.” Fletcher Moulton, L. J., says at page 418 of the report: “I am clear that, both in cases in which the defence of privilege and in those in which the defence of fair comment is set up, the state of mind of the defendant when he published the alleged libel is a matter directly in issue.”

It is, of course, possible for a person to have a spite against another and yet to bring a perfectly dispassionate judgment to bear upon his literary merits; but, given the existence of malice, it must be for the jury to say whether it has warped his judgment. Comment distorted by malice cannot in my opinion be fair on the part of the person who makes it. I am of opinion, therefore, that evidence of malice actuating the defendant was admissible, and that the learned judge was right in letting the evidence in this case go to the jury. But I am also of opinion on a close examination of the alleged libel that, apart from the extrinsic evidence of malice, the learned judge could not have withdrawn the case from the jury. One point made by the plaintiff would, I think, of itself suffice to establish this position. The defendant Lucy says in the alleged libel “it is plain to see from the few unmutilated extracts ... that the materials at hand for a delightful biography were abundant.” This statement was described by the plaintiff in a letter to the editor of Punch as “simply untrue.” A short statement was thereupon published in the issue of December 7, in which the defendant, while accepting the plaintiff’s statement as to the paucity of materials, quotes a passage from the preface to the book dealing with the existence of materials, and concludes thus: “Toby, M. P., had at the time of writing no knowledge of the subject beyond the definite statements quoted in the biographer’s own words. He regrets that, accepting them in their ordinary sense, he received and conveyed an impression of Mr. Thomas’s literary methods which turns out to have been erroneous.” He is thus in the difficulty of having to admit a misstatement of fact in respect of which, to put it at the lowest, a question must arise for the jury whether the passage he relied upon justifies the statement. I think also that the learned judge could not have properly held that there was no evidence fit for the consideration of the jury as to some of the innuendoes averring imputations of discreditable motives. I am of opinion, therefore, that we could not direct judgment for the defendants without usurping the functions of the jury. Neither can we say that the evidence is so slight as to justify us in ordering a new trial on the ground that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence.

Cozens-Hardy, L. J. I agree.

Sir Gorell Barnes, President. I have had an opportunity of reading the judgment of the Master of the Rolls, and I agree with it.

Appeal dismissed.[[521]]

JACKSON v. HOPPERTON
In the Common Pleas, May 25, 1864.
Reported in 12 Weekly Reporter, 913.[[522]]

This case was tried before Williams, J., at Guildhall, in the sittings after last Easter Term.

The declaration stated that, “before the speaking, &c., the defendant had been a man-milliner, and the plaintiff had been in his service and employ as a saleswoman and assistant, and the defendant falsely, &c., spoke, &c., of the plaintiff the words ‘Miss Jackson’ (thereby meaning the plaintiff) ‘is dishonest,’ thereby meaning that the plaintiff was a thief and a dishonest servant, and had been guilty of fraudulent conduct in her capacity as such saleswoman, &c., whereby, &c., the plaintiff was injured in credit and reputation, and certain persons trading under the name and style of ‘Capper, Son, & Co.’ refused to employ the plaintiff as saleswoman and servant in their employ, as they otherwise would have done, and the plaintiff lost and was deprived of her said situation in the employ of the said ‘Capper, Son, & Co.,’ and has been for a long space of time unable to obtain employment, &c.”

Plea—Not guilty.