The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-13 00:00:00

CUSTOMS' ®CTS.

The Earl of DERBY laid upon the table the second
report of the Comtuissi.tnwr of herMAjeaty's Customs.

LIBEL BILL.

Lord CAMPBELL rose to move the second reading
of this bill. In doing so, he should not occupy any
leegth of time, but bsf ire proceeding with this bill, be
thought he ought t r apilogise for not going further
that be had done in the pre-ent measure. He regretted
that even if their 1 .rd-kips agreed to this bill, the law of
libel would still be far from being in a perfect state.
Much had undoubte fly been done of late years to im-
prove the law, and those improvements bad worked
most beneficially. It had protected those who had done
a public good, and it had destroyed to a great extent
the bad ; and it could no longer be said " the
greater the truth the greater the libel." Another im-
provement in recent legislation was that it had put down
those who sought to make money by threatening to
publish certain defamatory attacks. Such an act never
disgraced the respectable public journals, etthlr on one
side or the other, but it was a source of congratulation
that those threate were now made punihiible, and that
the degraded class of newspapers were now extinct.
Much undoubtedly remained to be done to bring the law
with respect to libel and slander into a satisfactory state;
and he was afraid that the present bill would disappoint
many who had advanced a great deal more than the bill
dealt with. As the law now stood, a statement
at a public meeting that a man was a
coward, a liar, or a scoundrel, afforded no
ground for special action unless some special damage
could be proved. The present bill had originated in
consequence of circurnstanceswhich showed the unsatis-
factory state of the law, in a case that was lately tried
in the Court of Queen's Bench, that of Davidson v.
Duncan. In that case an action was brought against
a journal of re.pectability in Durham, becau-e
he bad published a report of what took place at a public
meeting convened tinder the powers of a local improve-
ment act. It was pleaded that the report was a true
and faithful one, but it was decided, that as the
law stood, the justification was insufficient, and a
verdict was found for the plaintiff, with nominal
damages, which threw the whole of the costs upon the
defendant. This decision
gave great dissatisfaction
and numerous petitions were presented, praying fir an
amendment 11 the law,
and requeAing that the same
immunity might be given to reports r,f proceedings at
public meetings as was
given to the reports of the pro-
ceedings of courts of jii,-tice.
(LtPT SITTING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(This Evening.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at 4 o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The Caledonian Railway (Da'marnock branch) Bill
wa, read a third time and oa,fird.
BORDER COUNTIES' RAILWAY BILL.
Mr. C. FORSTER. moved that the minutes of the evi-
dence taken bef,re the Border Counties Railway Bill in
session 1854 be referred to the committee on group 13 of
Railway and Canal B 11s, in reference to the Border
Counties Rail way.— Agreed to.
ADMIRALTY PROMISES.
Mr. E BALA. preAented a pe•ition from the Rev.
Mr. Mabtierlec, cf Suffolk, stating, that on his making
certain communication., to the Admiralty be was to re-
ceive 100 0001. Re had made the communication, but
bad not received the money in return. (Laughter.)
ASSIZE ACCOMMODATION.
Mr. WMAIION gave notice that he should on this
day fortnight move the appointment of a committee to
inquire into the expediency of increasing the number of
assizes for the disposal of civil business.
THE COUNTY FRANCHISE.
Mr. LOCKE KING gave notice that he should on
this day fortnight move for leave to introduce a bill for
assimilating the horeugh and county franchise. (Hear.)
WHITECROSS-STREET PRISON.
Mr. SHERIDAN gave notice that he should on
T move for copies of the correspondence, if any,
passed between the city authorities and the
relative to the new regulations adopted for
Whitecross-street Prison.
THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER.
that had
_ bd,aay
l

Mr. RICARDO gave notice that he should on this
day fortnight present a petition from the inhabitants of
Henley, complaining of the
. manner in which the Duchy
operations in the
of Laamter was conducting mining
neighbourhood, and he should move the appuintment of
a select committee to inquire into the complaint and
report thereon.