Hayford v Forrester-Paton
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 17 June 1927 |
| Docket Number | No. 85. |
| Date | 17 June 1927 |
| Court | Court of Session |
Ld. Fleming, Lord Justice-Clerk (Alness), Lord Ormidale, Lord Hunter, Lord Anderson.
SlanderPrivilegeMaliceAfrican missionary's appeal for fundsCommittee formed to aid appealInquiry into his character by person canvassedCirculation by latter among committee of alleged defamatory letter received in replyWhether occasion privilegedSufficiency of averments of malicePlea of veritas.
H., a native of the Gold Coast, who carried on missionary work there, came to Scotland in order to raise funds for his mission. He succeeded in forming a Scottish committee consisting of prominent clergymen and laymen, and this committee issued a public appeal on his behalf. In the course of his attempt to get subscribers H. visited P., who was not a member of the Scottish committee but was known to be interested in missions, and asked him for a subscription. He produced to P. a number of documents, which testified to his personal character and to the deserving nature of the work in which he was engaged. Included among these documents, was a testimonial signed by thirty-three prominent citizens and officials of the Gold Coast. P., however, told H. that, before giving a subscription, he would like to consult a friend of his own who was a missionary on the Gold Coast. P. accordingly wrote to this friend, B., and received in reply a letter advising him to have nothing to do with H., about whom the writer made various extremely derogatory statements to the effect that he was a blackguard, that he was the only person who benefited by the subscriptions he received, and that his wife was heart-broken; but he added no corroborative details. P., without further inquiry, immediately sent an excerpt from B's. letter, containing the statements relative to H., to the secretary and to all the members of the Scottish committee, under cover of a letter marked private and confidential, in which, after narrating the circumstances in which he came to consult B., he stated that, as B's. report was so unfavourable, he thought that it was right that the committee should see it. He stated also that he had not received authority from B. to treat his letter in this way.
Thereafter H. brought an action of slander against P. He averred that the defender had read the testimonials, which were contradictory of B's. report; that he had neither communicated the adverse report to the pursuer, nor made further inquiries; that he had no ground for making such accusations; that B's. letter contained no facts which justified the charges made; that the defender had no reason or duty to act as he did, but was animated by a desire to injure the pursuer; and that the defender had recklessly disseminated the charges made by B. The pursuer did not aver that the defender circulated the statements knowing them to be untrue; nor did he aver that B. was an unreliable person, or that the defender had any reason so to regard him.The defender pleaded privilege, and also pleaded veritas.
Held (diss. Lord Hunter) (1) that the occasion on which the defender sent the letter was privileged; and (2) that the pursuer had s not relevantly averred facts and circumstances from which malice on the part of the defender could he inferred.
Observed that the fact that the defender had pleaded veritas could not be founded on as inferring malice.
On 24th November 1925 the Reverend Mark Christian Hayford, M.A., D.D., Founder and General Superintendent of the Baptist Church and Mission and the Christian Army of the Gold Coast, and resident at Accra, Gold Coast, brought an action of slander against John Forrester-Paton, Inglewood, Alloa, in which he sought to recover 5000 in name of damages.
The averments of the pursuer were thus summarised by the Lord Ordinary in his opinion:The pursuer is a British subject, a native of the Gold Coast of West Africa, a Baptist Minister of the Gospel, an M.A. and D.D. of the State University, Louisville, United States of America, a member of the Royal Geographical Society of England, and of other societies, and he is the author of books on religious, educational, and social questions in West Africa. For some years he was in the Colonial Civil Service, but voluntarily gave up his post in that service in order to enter the ministry. He began his ministerial career in the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1892, and in 1897 he received a call from the Baptist Church at Lagos, which he accepted, resigning his position in the Wesleyan Church. In 1898 he founded the organisation known as the Baptist Church and Mission and the Christian Army of the Gold Coast. Since its foundation he has devoted himself continuously to the furtherance of its main objects, which are thus described in its constitution:To win the Gold Coast and Africa for Christ by Evangelistic and Missionary effort, and by educational work aiming at the moral, intellectual, industrial and social improvement of Africans. The work of the mission is, and has been, carried on almost exclusively by native agency. The first church building erected in connexion with the mission was at Cape Coast, the necessary funds having been collected by the pursuer personally in Britain, America, and Africa by means of voluntary donations. The pursuer in condescendence 4 refers to and founds upon the year-book and report of the mission for 1913, which shows that the said church had been erected, that the funds collected had been duly devoted to the purposes of the mission in accordance with a certificate by a firm of chartered accountants in London, and that the sums which the pursuer received in respect of stipend, rent, and expenses were moderate. In 1914 a school and training college in connexion with the mission was established at Accra. The funds expended in erecting the buildings required therefor were obtained by the pursuer by means of subscriptions and donations mainly provided by the people of Scotland. The pursuer avers that good and valuable work has been done at the school and college in spite of the difficulties arising from inadequate financial resources, and he gives particulars of the results which have been achieved. He states that his own services have been given gratuitously to the school and training college, and that his late wife, a certificated teacher, also assisted in the work. He explains that the work which the school and college did was, however, hampered by the lack of adequate funds, and in October 1922 he left the Gold Coast for America and Scotland for the purpose of raising the funds which he considered were required. Before leaving the Gold Coast, he received from a number of prominent citizens there a certificate expressing their approval and commendation of the work he had done, and inviting, on his behalf, the support of all who desired the religious and educational advancement of Africa and her peoples. The pursuer proceeded first to the United States of America, and appears to have attained considerable success with his appeal there. He issued and circulated a printed document entitled an Appeal to America in the interests of Christian, Educational, and Benevolent Work in West Africa. Many prominent citizens of the highest standing, including the President of the United States, signed a testimonial testifying to their sympathy with, and their approval and support of, the mission and its work. In December 1924 the pursuer came to Scotland for the purpose of obtaining there the sum of 50,000, being one-half of the sum which he was endeavouring to raise as the school endowment fund. He succeeded in interesting influential clergymen and laymen in the matter, and a committee was formed to help his efforts. The chairman and vice-chairman of this committee were the Moderators of the United Free Church and the Church of Scotland respectively, and the other members were all well-known clergymen or laymen. The committee issued a document in support of the pursuer's request for subscriptions, which the pursuer, I think quite accurately, describes as an appeal to the people of Scotland. It is obvious that an appeal supported by a committee so constituted would carry great weight with people interested in these matters. The document is headed The West African Native Church and Mission, Scottish Committee, and it is signed by the members of the committee. It refers to a communication received from an American committee, expresses approval of the work which is being done by the pursuer and his mission, and commends the appeal in the following terms:Accordingly we trust you will be pleased to contribute liberally to this cause to ensure the future of the excellent work that under God is being done by this important Native Agency.
In January 1925 the pursuer called upon the defender, from whom he hoped to obtain a subscription. The defender's deceased father had been a contributor to the mission, and his brother was a member of the Scottish Committee. At this interview the pursuer made the defender conversant with the history of the mission and the work which it was doing on the Gold Coast, and also with his own efforts on its behalf. He exhibited to the defender a number of documents, particulars of which are set forth on record,*and
which testified to the good work which the mission was doing and invited the public to give financial support to the pursuer's appeal. In particular the pursuer gave the defender to read, and the defender did read, the appeal to the people of Scotland. After what was apparently a conversation and discussion of considerable length, the defender stated that he would like, before giving a donation, to write on the subject to a missionary friend on the Gold Coast. According to the pursuer's averments, the pursuer then stated to the defender that this missionary friend might ask assistance for his own mission, but he did not try to dissuade the defender from consulting him. As appears from the letter complained of, the...
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