The King v Shipley
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 22 November 1784 |
| Date | 22 November 1784 |
| Court | Court of the King's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 99 E.R. 774
IN THE COURT OF KING'S BENCH
the king v. shipley (a). Monday, 22d November, 1784. On the trial of an indictment for a libel, the only questions for the jury are the fact of publication, and the truth of the innuendos. The question of libel or no libel is, necessarily, a question of law, for the sole consideration of the Court out of which the record comes, and on which the Judge at the trial is not called upon to give his opinion to the jury. Dissentiente Willes, J.(6). It is no answer to a charge of criminal publication of a libel to show that the defendant In the case of Mills and Auriol, 1 H. Bl. 433, and Anriol v. Mills in error, 4 T. R. 94, the law of this case was considered and approved; and it was there decided, in contradistinction to it, that in an action upon an express covenant for payment of rent, bankruptcy of the defendant is no bar. (a) A report of this case is published in the Collection of Speeches of Lord Erskine, by Ridgeway, 1st vol. p. 137 (3d ed.). That report contains Lord Erskine's speech at the trial, Mr. Justice Buller's charge, and an account of the proceedings at Nisi Prius; also Lord Erskine's speech in moving for a new trial, and in support of the rule, and Lord Mansfield's opinion in giving judgment for the discharge of that rule. The report of Lord Mansfield's judgment is also printed in a note to Rex v. Withers, 3 T. R. 428. The present report is printed, nearly, as prepared for publica tion by Lord Glenbervie. Some trifling additions are from Mr. Justice Le Blanc's notes, and Mr. Bower's. The arguments of counsel against the rule, and the judg ments of Willes and Ashurst, Justices, are not, to the editor's knowledge, elsewhere in print. In the other parts of the report it corresponds, frequently verbatim, with Lord Erskine's; Lord G. having, probably, made use of a publication of part of the case by Lord E., which appeared soon after the decision of the cause. (b) See also the Declaratory Act, 32 G. 3, c. 60, contra. 4 DOUGL. 74. THE KING V. SHIPLEY 775 had been told it was libellous, and not fit to be disseminated generally in the neighbourhood, and that he printed it with a view to disprove the imputation of having intended to promulgate a libel. These facts, if the composition be a libel, are, so far from constituting a defence, in aggravation rather than in mitigation of his guilt. [Referred to, Capital anil Counties Bank v. Henty, 1882, 7 App. Gas. 773; E. v. Tolson, 1889, 23 Q. B. D. 186 ; Nevill v. Fine Arts Insurance Company [1895], 2 Q. B. 159 ; [1897], A. C. 68.] This case arose upon an indictment for a libel, against William Davies Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph, which was [74] found, by the grand jury for the county of Denbigh, at Wrexham, at the Spring Great Sessions, 23 Geo. 3. The defendant pleaded not guilty : the indictment having been removed by certiorari into the Court of King's Bench, it was sent down to be tried at the last assizes for Shropshire, being the next English county ; and on Friday, the 6th of August, 1784, the trial came on, before Buller, J., aud a special jury. The indictment contained two counts. The first was in the following words: "The jurors for our Sovereign Lord the King upon their oath present, that William Davies Shipley, late of Llannerch Park, in the parish of St. Asaph, in the county of Flint, clerk, being a person of a wicked and turbulent disposition, and maliciously designing and intending to excite and diffuse among the subjects of this realm discontents, jealousies, and suspicions of our lord the King and his Government, and disaffection and disloyalty to the person and Government of our lord the now King; and to raise very dangerous seditions and tumults within this kingdom; and to draw the Government of this kingdom into great scandal, infamy, and disgrace ; and to incite the subjects of our lord the King to attempt by force and violence, and with arms, to make alterations in the Government, state, and constitution of this kingdom; on the first day of April, in the twenty-third year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, now King of Great Britain, &c. at Wrexham aforesaid, in the county of Denbigh aforesaid, wickedly and seditiously published, and caused and procured to be published, a certain false, wicked, malicious, seditious, and scandalous libel, of and concerning our said lord the King, and the Government of this realm, in the form of a supposed dialogue, between a supposed gentleman, and a supposed farmer-wherein the part of the supposed gentleman, in the supposed dialogue, is deuoted by the letter G., and the part of the supposed farmer, in such supposed dialogue, is denoted by the letter F.-intituled 'The Principles of Government in a Dialogue Between a Gentleman and a Farmer;' in which said libel are contained the false, wicked, malicious, seditious, and scandalous matters following; to wit, [75] " F. (meaning the said supposed farmer) (b). Why should humble men like me (meaning the said supposed farmer) (b) sign or set marks to petitions of this nature? It is better for us farmers to mind our husbandry, and leave what we cannot comprehend to the King and Parliament. G. (meaning the said supposed gentleman) (c). You can comprehend more than you imagine, and, as a free member of a free State, have higher things to mind than you may conceive. F. If by free you mean out of prison, I hope to continue so, as long as I can pay my rent to the squire's bailiff: but what is meant by a free State? G. Tell me first what is meant by a club in the village, of which I know you to be a member. F. It is an assembly of men who meet after work every Saturday, to be merry and happy for a few hours in the week. G. Have you no other object but mirth 1 F. Yes, we have a box into which we contribute equally from our monthly or weekly savings, and out of which any members of the club are to be relieved in sickness or poverty : for the parish officers are so cruel and insolent, that it were better to starve than apply to them (meaning parish officers) for relief. G. Did they (meaning parish officers), or the squire, or the parson, or all together, compel you and the several persons composing (b) The same innuendo was repeated wherever F. or any pronoun applicable to the farmer occurred. (c) The same innuendo was repeated wherever G. or any pronoun applicable to the gentleman occurred. 776 THE KING V. SHIPLEY 4 DOUGL. 76. such club to form this society 1 F. Oh no ! we (meaning the said club) could not be compelled ; we (meaning the said club) formed it by our own choice. G. You (meaning the said club) did right. But have you (meaning the said club) not some head, or president of your club ? F. The master for each night is chosen by all the company present the week before. G. Does he (meaning such master) make laws to bind you (meaning the said club), in case of ill-temper or misbehaviour? F. He (meaning such master) make laws ! he (meaning the said master) bind us ! no, we have all agreed to a set of certain rules, which are signed by every new comer, and were written in a strange hand by young Spelman, the lawyer's clerk, whose uncle is a member. G. What should you (meaning the said club) do, if any one member were to insist on becoming perpetual master, and on altering your (meaning the said club's) rules at his [76] (meaning such one member's) arbitrary will and pleasure? F. We (meaning the said club) should expel him (meaning such one member). G. What if he (meaning such one member) were to bring a Serjeant's guard, when the Militia are quartered in your neighbourhood, and insist upon your (meaning such club's) obeying him 1 (meaning such one member). F. We (meaning such club) should resist, if we (meaning the said club) could; if not, the society would be broken up. G. Suppose that with his (meaning such one member's) Serjeant's guard, he (meaning such one member) were to take the money out of the box, or out of your (meaning the members of the club's) pockets. F. Would not that be a robbery 1 G. I am seeking information from you : how should you (meaning the said club) act on such an occasion1? F. We (meaning the said club) should submit perhaps at that time, but should afterwards try to apprehend the robbers. G. What if you (meaning the said club) could not apprehend them? F. We (meaning the said club) might kill them, I should think; and if the King (meaning our said lord the King) would not pardon us (meaning the said club), God would. G. How could you (meaning the said club) either apprehend them (meaning the said robbers), or, if they (meaning the said robbers) resisted, kill them, without a sufficient force in your (meaning the said club's) own hands? F. Oh ! we (meaning the said club) are all good players at single stick, and each of us (meaning the said club) has a stout cudgel, or quarter-stafl', in the corner of his room. G. Suppose that a few of the club were to domineer over the rest, and insist upon making laws for them? (meaning the rest of the said club). F. We (meaning the rest of the said club) must take the same course; except that it would be easier to restrain one man than a number ; but we (meaning the rest of the said club) should be the majority, with justice on our side. G. A word or two on another head. Some of you (meaning the said club), I presume, are no great accountants. F. Few of us (meaning the said club) understand accounts; but we (meaning the said club) trust old Lilly, the schoolmaster, whom we (meaning the said club) believe to be an honest man ; and he keeps the key of our (meaning the said club's) box. G. If your (mean ing the said club's) money should in time amount to a large sum, it might not perhaps be safe to keep it (meaning such large sum) at his (meaning Lilly's) house, or in any [77] private house. F. Where else should we (meaning the said club) keep it? (meaning such large sum.) G. You (meaning the said...
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...to. [para. 67]. R. v. Stevenson (1990), 41 O.A.C. 1; 58 C.C.C.(3d) 464 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 67]. R. v. Shipley (1784), 4 Dougl. 73; 99 E.R. 774 (K.B.), refd to. [para. 70]. R. v. Smith (E.D.), [1987] 1 S.C.R. 1045; 75 N.R. 321, refd to. [para. 73]. R. v. Miller and Cockriell, [1977] 2 S.......
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...D.L.R.(4th) 200, refd to. [para. 52]. Joshua v. The Queen, [1955] A.C. 121 (P.C.), refd to. [para. 59]. R. v. Shipley (1784), 4 Dougl. 73; 99 E.R. 774, refd to. [para. U.S. v. Dougherty (1972), 473 F. 2d 1113, refd to. [para. 61]. Skapinker v. Law Society of Upper Canada, [1984] 1 S.C.R. 35......
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Local Code: Subsidiarity and the Canadian Criminal Jury.
...for comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies. Copyright [c] 2022 by Michael Plaxton (1.) See R v Shipley (1784), 4 Doug 73, 99 ER 774. (2.) See Neil Vidmar, "A Historical and Comparative Perspective on the Common Law Jury" in Vidmar, ed, World Jury Systems (Oxford, UK & Ne......