Category: Commonwealth

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited v Wright: 1994

The Business Times in Singapore had published an apology in favour of a third party in respect of defamatory statements made by Mr Wright whose letter was previously published by the newspaper. The letter was found to be privileged when the letter writer alleged that the apology was defamatory of him.
Held: The Business Times had a moral, if not legal duty, to correct the original defamatory statements of the letter writer and its readers would be interested in knowing about the correction.
Chao Hick Tin J said (obiter): ‘In the circumstances of the present case, having regard to the letter of Mr Wright which was published in the BT (Business Times) . . there was clearly a duty, at least moral if not legal, for BT to make the statement in the apology to correct what it felt was an unwarranted attack by Wright on OCBC. Applying the criteria I have set out above, I am of the opinion that the publication of the apology was on an occasion of qualified privilege. The readers have read the attack on OCBC and they certainly have an interest to read the correction. Of course the defence of qualified privilege could be negatived by malice, but by no stretch of the imagination can one seriously allege there was any malice in OCBC causing the publication of or in BT having published the apology.
I agree that the position might be different if BT, having entirely on its own volition published a libel on OCBC, then sought to make a correction wherein it defamed a third party. I can see that in such a situation the court should perhaps be slow to recognise that there is such a duty as to create an occasion of qualified privilege.’

Judges:

Chao Hick Tin J

Citations:

[1994] 3 SLR 760

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Watts v Times Newspapers Ltd, Neil, Palmer and Schilling and Lom CA 28-Jul-1995
The plaintiff author had claimed damages for defamation, saying that he had been accused of plagiarism. An apology had been given in the form requested – no qualified privilege. The plaintiff brought an associated case against his lawyer, saying . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation

Updated: 22 September 2022; Ref: scu.374708

Associated Broadcasting Company Limited and Others v Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada Limited: PC 1 Dec 1954

(Ontario) The plaintiff copyright holder complained of the infringement of their copyrights in recordings by the broadcasting of the same by the defendant’s members.

Citations:

[1954] UKPC 41, [1954] 3 All ER 708, [1954] 1 WLR 1484

Links:

Bailii

Commonwealth, Intellectual Property

Updated: 22 September 2022; Ref: scu.445904

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (SS) Limited v Singapore Harbour Board: PC 10 Jun 1952

(Singapore) The parties disputed liability for damage to 17 tyres belonging to the plaintiff received in the harbour operated by the defendant but never delivered. The defendant claimed the protection of an Ordinance requiring any claim to be made within six months. To claim that protection, the defendant had to establish that in receiving the tyres, it was doing an act ‘in pursuance of any public duty or authority’.
Held: The Company’s appeal failed.
To claim the defence, the act must be in the discharge of a public duty. In deciding this it will sometimes be relevant go ask whether the contract had been entered into voluntarily but the existence of a contract as such is not decisive to exclude the defence. Some effect must be given to the word ‘authority’.
In this case, the Board was under a duty to provide the harbour services, and these included warehousing as a normal adjunct.

Judges:

Mormand, Tucker, Asquith of Bishopstone, Cohen LL

Citations:

[1952] UKPC 17, 50 LGR 619, [1952] 1 TLR 1625, [1952] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 1, [1952] AC 452, [1952] 2 All ER 219

Links:

Bailii

Commonwealth, Transport, Limitation, Administrative

Updated: 22 September 2022; Ref: scu.445963

The Attorney General of Canada v Hallet and Carey Limited and Another: PC 20 May 1952

Canada – By section 2(l)(c) of the National Emergency Transitional Powers Act 1945 the governor in Council was authorised to do such things and to make such orders and regulations as he might, by reason of the continued emergency arising out of the war against Germany and Japan, deem necessary or advisable for the purpose of, inter alia, ‘Maintaining, controlling and regulating supplies and services, prices, transportation, use and occupation of property, rentals, employment, salaries and wages to ensure economic stability and an orderly transition to conditions of peace’. Under the powers conferred by that Act the Governor in Council passed an Order in Council which provided that oats and barley in commercial positions in Canada, with certain exceptions, should be vested in the Canadian Wheat Board. The Order was successfully challenged in Manitoba and in the Supreme Court of Canada but was upheld by the Privy Council on the ground that although the Act of 1945 made no specific reference to appropriation yet the wide language of section 2(1) ending with the words ‘as he may . . deem necessary or advisable’ gave the amplest possible discretion in the choice of methods. The expression ‘as he may deem necessary’ or like words are often found in statutes in which a discretionary power is given to a minister or other authority.

Judges:

Viscount Simon, Lord Normand, Lord Radcliffe, Lord Asquith of Bishopstone, Lord Cohen

Citations:

[1952] UKPC 13, [1952] AC 427, [1952] 1 TLR 1408

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

National Emergency Transitional Powers Act 1945

Cited by:

Cited – McEldowney v Forde HL 18-Jun-1969
The House was asked whether the Magistrates had properly dismissed a charge of membership of an unlawful organisation, namely a Republican club. The Magistrates had found that an unlawful club would only be such if it supported the absorption of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commonwealth, Constitutional

Updated: 22 September 2022; Ref: scu.445957

Laila Jhina Mawji and Another v The Queen: PC 4 Dec 1956

Eastern Africa – The two defendants, parties to a valid polygamous marriage, appealed against a conviction of conspiracy to obstruct, prevent, pervert or defeat the course of justice by hiding a wall clock they knew was required for the purpose of an inquiry into a criminal offence.
Held: The rule that a husband and wife cannot conspire together ‘is an example of the fiction that husband and wife are regarded for certain purposes, of which this is one, as in law one person’. The words ‘conspires’ and ‘conspiracy’ in English criminal law were not applicable to a husband and wife alone, and the words ‘other person’ in s 110(a) of the penal code of Tanganyika, if English criminal law were to be applied to their ‘interpretation’ or ‘meaning’, could not, in that context, include a spouse.

Judges:

Oaksey, Tucker, Cohen, Keith of Avonholm, Somervell of Harrow LL

Citations:

[1956] UKPC 40, (1957) 41 Cr App R 69, [1957] 2 WLR 277, [1957] AC 126, [1957] 1 All ER 385

Links:

Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – Bala and Others, Regina v CACD 10-May-2016
The court was asked whether parties to a polygamous marriage recognised in Nigeria could be exempt thereby from a charge as co-conspirators because of s2 of the 1977 Act. The judge had held the marriage invalid after finding that the defendant was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commonwealth, Crime

Updated: 20 September 2022; Ref: scu.445617

Ross v The Queen: PC 11 Dec 1956

Eastern Africa – The Board was asked whether the Court of Appeal of Eastern Africa had juridiction to order a new trial in a criminal case, and if so whether one had been properly ordered in this case.
Held: The power falls to be exercised upon the setting aside of a jury verdict and the conviction recorded thereon.

Judges:

Viscount Simonds, Oaksey, Cohen, Keith of Avonholm LL

Citations:

[1956] UKPC 43, [1957] 2 WLR 307, [1957] 1 All ER 451, [1957] AC 208

Links:

Bailii

Commonwealth, Criminal Practice

Updated: 20 September 2022; Ref: scu.445615