Criminal libel-Proof required.
Appeal dismissed.
HELD: It is not incumbent upon
the prosecution to prove that a
libel is calculated to provoke a
breach of the peace; it is
sufficient if it is calculated
to vilify a man and bring him
into hatred, contempt and
ridicule.
Rex v. Wicks (XXV Criminal
Appeal Reports
p. 168) followed. 29th Edition
of Archbold's Criminal Pleading,
Evidence and Practice varied by
30th Edition.
There is no necessity to set out
the facts.
O. I. E. During for
Defendant-Appellant.
E. S. Beaku Betts for
Crown.
The following joint judgment was
delivered :
KINGDON, PETRIDES AND GRAHAM
PAUL, C.Jl
In this case we can find no
substance in any of the grounds
of appeal. The only one which
need be mentioned is No. 5 which
reads :-
" His Honour the learned Acting
Chief Justice failed to direct
himself and the Assessors that
the essential in a criminal
prosecution for libel is that
such a publication is calculated
to cause a breach of the peace."
In support of this ground,
Counsel for the Appellant relies
upon the passage at p. 1266 of
the 29th Edition of Archbold's
Criminal Pleading, Evidence and
Practice :--
" A defamatory libel consists in
the writing and publishing of
defamatory words of any living
person, or words calculated or
intended to provoke him or to
expose him to public hatred,
contempt or ridicule, or to
damage his reputation and
such a libel is an indictable
misdemeanour if the publication
is calculated to cause a breach
of the peace."
But in the 30th edition of that
book the words "if the
publication ... is calculated to
cause a breach of the peace"
have been omitted. This is in
consequence of the decision of
the Court of Criminal Appeal in
the case of" Rex v. Wicks"
(25 Criminal Appeal
p. 168) when precisely the same
argument as has been submitted
to us on this ground was
submitted to the Court of
Criminal Appeal in England on
behalf of Wicks. That submission
was overruled by the Court of
Criminal Appeal and du Parcq, J.
in giving; the judgment of that
Court quoted with approval the
words of Mansfield, C.J. in
Thoeley v. Lord Kerry (1812)
v Taunt 353 Johnson at p.
364 " There is no doubt that
this was a libel, for which the
Plaintiff in error might have
been indicted and punished;
because though the words impute
no punishable crimes, they
contain that Graham sort of
imputation which is calculated
to vilify a man and bring Paul,
C.]]. him, as the books say,
into hatred, contempt, and
ridicule; for all words of that
description an indictment lie.