Publishers in England have been giving increasing attention to the severity with which judges and Juries are disposed to interpret the bel laws. © Amazing been given so that walters, Teaders now, take elaborate precautions to avert the peril. of actions jin the courts, 'The jury, -with= Jout leaving the box, "found the "Morning Post" guilty' of lbelling Lord Kilmaine fast month and sed the damages at £2,000, The itis "conceivable that some attempt will be made to challer the finding, for otherwise an' eve greater burden will be public commentators than already thefts under the rigid limitations of the present state of case law. When modern journalists are accused being "meals and more {inelined to damn. with feint praise castigate error for the public their accusers might study the bly written leading article of the "Morning Post" which sought by playful raillery and satire to. reply ick on itself and which a brought within the scope of ibel laws, to the tune of £2,000, The "Economist," among other Journ: Is, has noticed the verdict and a closely-reasoned article has shows how the modern interpretation of the Jaw which was really. intended to protect men from genuine defamation of character Is being used to shelter them from criticism. It stifles' comments "that Sucht to be made. It breeds.
tion. If not cheeked, Ht wilt in time ponies 'i int as they breed, "too,. race. of thin-skinned pen ly Be to foe'
{er something actionable about then Taking at random a passage from Mr, Winston Churehilt's. "The World Crisis," and another from Mr. D, C. Somervell's "Reign of King Gear the Fifth," the journal shows on the analogy of the Kilmaine eas the respective authors could mulcted in heavy damages, in spite of the fact that the two passages would be read by nine people out of ten as conveying simple statements lof controversial criticism, "Time and Tide" referring to the same, subject invokes the spirit of old-time journal ism as evidence and pertinently suggests that the modern writer would spend "most of his time in prison and the rest in hospital" if he attempted to imitate Mr, Henry Labouchere's style as shown in a comment on a certain Victorian publisher:—As regards Yourself, T-conoider you disgrace to" Jo 1 respect like Conservatives and Liberals, But base servite wretch" who, Gi of Commons to pick "up crumbs of guasicofielal" information that "might peculiarity useful to you. th the hopes. of -eurrying you. spattered Me. Gladstone with slavish duration. "No sooner was he out-of ce than you commenced to attack him: ina "vein of scurrilous and Labouchere' was a past-master_ in handling literary high-explosive and his boast was thet he never lost. a Uibel action, but he would have been defeated if' he had written. that pa sage fifty years later, judging from recent judicial vagaries, Lord Kil-maine's action was the more piquant because, himself a warm champion of Ttaly, he based his original attack on the "Morning Post" on the ground that its headlines would give grave offence to Tialians, that paper, being prominent for its support of Signor Mussolini throughout the exntroversy over Abyssini
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.