Day 177 - 26 Oct 95 - Page 39


     
     1        My Lord, I also draw attention to the fact that -- and,
     2        again, I do not know, because I have not seen the judgment
     3        -- what prominence this has in the actual judgment, but in
     4        this Times Report I draw attention to the fact that
     5        Neill L.J. specifically cited that passage from, I think it
     6        is Lord Devlin's speech in Lewis, where he says -- and this
     7        is in the righthand column:
     8
     9             "......unfortunately as the law of defamation
    10             has to take into account is especially prone to
    11             do so when it is derogatory."
    12
    13   MS. STEEL:   Where is that bit?
    14
    15   MR. RAMPTON:  It is the first complete paragraph in the
    16        righthand column.  It starts: "In the context of the
    17        present case...."
    18
    19   MS. STEEL:   Thank you.
    20
    21   MR. RAMPTON:  That is about the implications, particularly when
    22        they are derogatory.  I do not draw particular attention to
    23        any other part of that report.
    24
    25        I turn then, if I may, to the two authorities that we have
    26        on our context    though I think English and Scottish
    27        Co-operative is not so much on context but on the effect of
    28        headlines.
    29
    30   MR. MORRIS:  Which number are we on now?
    31
    32   MR. RAMPTON:  We are now on number 5, Charleston v. News Group
    33        Newspapers.  We have all read this before, so I do not
    34        believe I need to trouble with the headnote.  The first
    35        significant passage, my Lord, we believe is on page 453 --
    36        Lord Bridge gave, I think, the only speech in this case --
    37        starting at letter G.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Lord Nicholls gave -----
    40
    41   MR. RAMPTON:  Oh, he did. Your Lordship is quite right.  I am
    42        going to cite from that in a moment.  Letter G:
    43
    44                  "The first formidable obstacle which Mr.
    45             Craig's argument encounters is a long and
    46             unbroken line of authority the effect of which
    47             is accurately summarised in Duncan & Neill on
    48             Defamation, as follows:
    49                  'In order to determine the natural and
    50             ordinary meaning of the words of which the 
    51             plaintiff complains it is necessary to take into 
    52             account the context in which the words were used 
    53             and the mode of publication.  Thus a plaintiff
    54             cannot select an isolated passage in an article
    55             and complain of that alone if other parts of the
    56             article throw a different light on that
    57             passage.'"
    58
    59             My Lord, equally, we would say, nor can a defendant
    60        select an isolated passage from the article and say that,

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