The plaintiff, a famous amateur golfer, had been shown in an advert by the defendants with a bar of their chocolate in his pocket. He claimed that this suggested that he had taken money for the advert for the endorsement, and that this was defamatory. He brought evidence to show that this is what people had thought. The defendants were shown to have been made aware that this interpretation might apply.
Held: Greer LJ said: ‘Words are not defamatory, however much they may damage a man in the eyes of a section of the community unless they also amount to disparagement of his reputation in the eyes of right thinking men generally. To write or say of a man something that would disparage him in the eyes of a particular section of the community but will not affect his reputation in the eyes of the average right thinking man is not actionable within the law of defamation.’
Judges:
Greer LJ
Citations:
[1930] 1 KB 467
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Tolley v J S Fry and Sons Ltd HL 1931
The plaintiff was an amateur golfer. The defendant, without the plaintiff’s knowledge or consent, published adverts showing the plaintiff and his caddy each with bars of the defendant’s chocolate protruding from their back pockets. The plaintiff . .
Cited – Modi and Another v Clarke CA 29-Jul-2011
The claimants, organisers of the Indian Premier cricket League, met with organisations in England seeking to establish a similar league in the Northern Hemisphere. A copy of a note came to the defendant, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Defamation, Media
Updated: 01 May 2022; Ref: scu.241601