Day 186 - 10 Nov 95 - Page 39
1
2 MR. MORRIS: So we do not have to go back to this case, I cannot
3 find it, but I am sure it said somewhere that he also said
4 it would lead to food poisoning somewhere, but in any case,
5 yes, it had Lord President on page 565 in the middle of his
6 paragraph said the words "poisonous and unfit for human
7 food". So, even if the word "poisonous" was used, it still
8 was not considered defamatory.
9
10 The last thing ---
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12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes?
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14 MR. MORRIS: -- the final thing I have to say on this authority
15 is that on the top of page 566: "To allege that a baker
16 keeps adulterated bread or flour in his premises is,
17 I think, actionable for to say that a baker keeps
18 adulterated bread or flour is to impute dishonesty to
19 him".
20
21 May be I did not explain it very well before, what I was
22 trying to say about the nutrition guide is dishonesty, I
23 would submit, has to refer to the product itself, i.e. it
24 is called a beef burger but actually it has rabbit meat in
25 it or something like that. It cannot just be to do with
26 their nutrition guide not telling the whole truth. That
27 cannot really be dishonesty in the context of criticising
28 their food. If that is what the Plaintiffs are complaining
29 about, then to criticise a leaflet by the Company cannot be
30 the kind of fraud or dishonesty which would make what is
31 not defamatory somehow become defamatory, which I think the
32 Plaintiffs are clutching at straws there, in trying to get
33 around this case.
34
35 Then it goes on to say: "The only question then is,
36 whether this innuendo is admissible", etcetera.
37 Mr. Rampton has said when he started off in his
38 introduction that he was not concerned with any
39 innuendo -----
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, that is not right, I am afraid.
42
43 MR. RAMPTON: No, my Lord. That is a misunderstanding, I am
44 afraid. In those days, my Lord, in the middle of the 19th
45 Century in the Court of Session innuendo was used loosely
46 to cover both true and false innuendoes. We are concerned
47 here with false innuendoes; we are not concerned with true
48 innuendoes.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You see, the innuendo referred to in the
51 third line there must be what is now called a false
52 innuendo, that is, one which anyone can imply from the
53 words without having any special knowledge. I mean, the
54 innuendo which the Lord President is referring to there is
55 the imputation of dishonesty.
56
57 MR. RAMPTON: Its natural and ordinary meaning.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: From the words themselves, without any
60 special knowledge.
