House of Lords
| Published date | 01 October 1979 |
| Date | 01 October 1979 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201837904300405 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
House
of
Lords
Comments
on
Cases
COMMITTAL
FOR
CRIMINAL LIBEL
Gleaves v. Deakin
The decision
of
the House of Lords in Gleaves v. Deakin (1979,
2 W.L.R. 665) was upon a purely technical point relating to the admiss-
ibility
of
evidence in proceedings for committal for criminal libel in
a case brought by a private prosecutor, but the case afforded the
House of Lords an opportunity to remark on what Lord Diplock
termed
"the
present sorry state
of
the law
of
criminal libel in this
country."
The appellants were the authors and publishers
of
a book entitled
"Johnny Go Home". That book undoubtedly contained a large number
of defamatory statements about the respondent, sinceit alleged that he
was guilty
of
gross sexual offences against minors, fraud, dealing with
stolen property, theft and other offences and generally concluding
that he was a "monster" like the Krays or Richardson. He brought
a private prosecution for libel and on the proceedings for committal,
the defendants sought to adduce evidence
of
his general bad charac-
ter. The magistrate admitted cross-examination which elicited evidence
of the respondent's conviction
of
sexual crimes and crimes
of
violence
and dishonesty, but refused leave to call evidence of his general bad
reputation, on the ground that such evidence impinged on the merits
of
the case and was irrelevant at that stage of the proceedings. The
magistrate's reason was that that evidence was not relevant to the only
question which she had to decide, namely whether there was a prima
facie case for trial. The defendants sought an order for certiorari to
quash the committal proceedings or an order
of
mandamus to compel
the magistrate to receive the proffered evidence. The DivisionalCourt
refused the application on the ground that the evidence would not
be relevant to the question whether what was complained
of
was a
217
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