Day 052 - 21 Nov 94 - Page 13
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2 MR. RAMPTON: No, it was, in fact, a helpful intervention by
3 your Lordship. Can I put this in its proper legal context,
4 this application, in relation to 4F, first of all, by
5 inviting your Lordship to look at paragraph 102 of Gatley
6 on page 155.
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8 MS. STEEL: Is there another copy of Gatley? We had one here
9 in court but we had to take it back to the library.
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11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I suggest is if Mr. Rampton reads it
12 slowly, then you can borrow mine for the rest of the day,
13 to have a look at it. Make a note of paragraph. It is 102
14 on page 55.
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16 MR. RAMPTON: It is quite short and it is very clear. The words
17 complained of, the heading of the paragraph is: "Context.
18 The words complained of must be construed as a whole. 'It
19 is necessary to take into consideration, not only the
20 actual words used, but the context of the words.' Words
21 which are not in themselves defamatory may, from the whole
22 context in which they are published, convey a defamatory
23 imputation. Conversely, this or that sentence may be
24 considered defamatory, but there may be other passages
25 which take away their sting. If 'in one part of the
26 publication something disreputable to the plaintiff is
27 stated, but that is removed by the conclusion, the bane and
28 the antidote must be taken together.' The defendant is
29 entitled to have read as part of the plaintiff's case the
30 whole of the publication from which an alleged libel is
31 extracted, and also any other document referred to which
32 qualifies or explains its meaning. If a libel is contained
33 in a letter, the whole of the correspondence of which the
34 letter forms part should be taken into consideration. If a
35 libel is contained in a newspaper paragraph, not only the
36 paragraph but also the heading must be taken into account."
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38 My Lord, one sees from that that context is compulsory;
39 that neither side is entitled to lift selective passages
40 from the context and, as it were, address the court on the
41 basis that the libel has a particular meaning in relation
42 to that paragraph. Both sides are compelled to digest the
43 whole of the context from which each paragraph is taken.
44 That applies with equal force to both sides.
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46 Going on from that to the leaflet itself, I hope your
47 Lordship's recovered the -- there is the passage in Duncan
48 & Neil on Defamation as well which is to similar effect;
49 4.11.
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51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, 4.11.
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53 MR. RAMPTON: I had better read it out.
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55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you can read it out.
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57 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, I will.
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59 MS. STEEL: 4.11 on what?
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