(Supreme Court of Canada) The defendants were the editor and the owner and publisher of a newspaper which had published a letter to the editor in which the writers accused the plaintiff of holding racist views. The writers of the letter did not give evidence, but the defendants in their evidence made it clear that the letter complained of did not represent the honest expression of their own views. The trial judge refused to leave the defence of fair comment to the jury.
Held: (by a majority of six to three) The judge was correct.
Judges:
Lloyd LJ
Citations:
(1978) 90 DLR (3rd) 321
Cited by:
Cited – Telnikoff v Matusevitch HL 14-Nov-1991
The court should decide on whether an article is ‘fact or comment’ purely by reference to the article itself, and not taking into account any of the earlier background coverage. It is the obligation of the relevant commentator to make clear that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Commonwealth, Defamation
Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.253573