Goldsmith and Another v Bhoyrul and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 11 June 1997 |
| Date | 11 June 1997 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
Queen's Bench Division
Before Mr Justice Buckley
Libel - public interest - political party cannot maintain action
It was contrary to the public interest for a political party to have any right at common law to maintain an action for defamation.
Mr Justice Buckley so held, inter alia, in the Queen's Bench Division when deciding in favour of an application by the defendants, Anil Bhoyrul, David Rydell and Sunday Business Newspapers Ltd to strike out the statement of claim of the plaintiffs, Sir James Goldsmith and the Referendum Party, a company limited by guarantee, for damages and an injunction for libel.
Mr Richard Rampton, QC and Miss Victoria Sharp for the plaintiffs; Mr David Price, solicitor, for the defendants.
MR JUSTICE BUCKLEY said that although the second plaintiff was a corporation, its only purpose was to operate as a political party.
The defendants had argued that a political party could not sue for libel, and therefore that the pleadings of the second plaintiff disclosed no reasonable cause of action.
It was established in Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers LtdELR([1993] AC 534) that institutions of central or local government had no right at common law to bring an action for defamation, on the public policy ground that in a free and democratic society those who held office must...
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