Day 177 - 26 Oct 95 - Page 23

     
     1        may I draw your Lordship's attention to the footnote at the
     2        bottom of page 39 of Gatley?  It is the footnote in which
     3        Evans v. Harlow is cited, which is one of the cases in the
     4        bundle.  Right at the bottom of the page, it is
     5        footnote 66.  There is a quotation from the judgment of
     6        Patteson J.:
     7
     8             "This is not in effect a caution against the
     9             plaintiff as a tradesman in the habit of selling
    10             goods which he knows to be bad; if it were it
    11             would be a libel upon him personally; but it is
    12             a caution against the goods, suggesting that the
    13             articles which the plaintiff sell do not answer
    14             their purpose; which is not actionable unless it
    15             were shown that the plaintiff by reason of
    16             the...."
    17
    18        I seem to have lost the next page.  I will have to read it
    19        out, because it has not been copied.
    20
              ".....unless it was shown that the plaintiff by
    22             reason of the publication was prevented from
    23             selling his goods to a particular person."
    24
    25        This is the editor's comment -----
    26
    27   MR. MORRIS:  Sorry -- "prevented from selling......"
    28
    29   MR. RAMPTON: "....his goods to a particular person."  That is
    30        the end.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL: The full quote is actually in the bundle we
    33        have.
    34
    35   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.  My Lord, I would like to read the editor's
    36        comment; and I am sorry that I did not copy this.
    37
    38             "It would now also be necessary to prove malice,
    39             but quaere whether the decision would
    40             necessarily be the same now since an imputation
              of incompetence in a trade may be defamatory."
    42
    43   MR. MORRIS:  Can you start from, "enquiry"?
    44
    45   MR. RAMPTON:  No.  It is -- my Lord, this is not for
    46        your Lordship.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Quaere -- Q-U-A-E-R-E.  It means query.
    49
    50   MS. STEEL:   Is it exactly the same? 
    51 
    52   MR. MORRIS:  Query whether the decision would be ----- 
    53
    54   MR. RAMPTON:  "....would necessarily be the same now since an
    55             imputation of incompetence in a trade may be
    56             defamatory.  See paragraph 67 and judgments
    57             cited in paragraphs 69 to 70."
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL: I must say, it surprised me anyway, because
    60        the word "professed" sounded to me as if what was being