Mitchell v Faber and Faber Limited: CA 1998

The court discussed the ‘bane and antidote’ rule in defamation cases: ‘So far as the antidote is concerned, it seems to me that only in the clearest of cases would it be proper for a judge to rule that the sting in the words, which are ex hypothesis capable of a defamatory meaning in themselves, is drawn by the surrounding context, so that in the result those words cease to be capable of a defamatory meaning. In my judgment the general though perhaps not universal rule should be that this is a matter for the jury and not the Judge to decide’.

Judges:

Hirst LJ

Citations:

[1998] EMLR 807

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedJameel and Another v Times Newspapers Limited CA 21-Jul-2004
The defendant had published a newspaper article linking the claimant to terrorist activity. The defendants argued that no full accusation was made, but only that the claimant was under investigation for such behaviour, and that the article had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation

Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.199360